After receiving negative comments from one of his Instagram posts, former Extreme Makeover: Home Edition host Ty Pennington took to Instagram this week to combat body shamers online.
Ty posted a black and white picture of himself shirtless, possibly to gain attention, as he shared his important message.
He started his Instagram post with the sentence, “Thoughts on aging….” before going into a depth explanation about the video that received many body-shaming comments and how he feels about himself as he’s aged.
Ty Pennington calls out body shamers in most recent Instagram post
The star opened up about a video he posted back in January where he’s seen hiking his shorts over his stomach, dancing around and having fun.
He wrote, “I posted a video recently of myself dancing on the beach, with my shorts hiked up. What was an honest moment of just trying to make my wife laugh, was then picked apart by strangers- with a lot of views, comes a lot of hate!”
He continued that many of the comments called him “disgusting,” “gross,” “grandpa,” and said even one wrote, “he got fat,” to which Ty noted that he was pushing his stomach out for the video.
After his reflection, he posed the question, “if I was still young and fit, would I be getting the same comments? There has been such a force behind accepting all shapes and sizes and aging in the female community which is AWESOME (keep it coming) but maybe let’s give that same grace to men?”
He said that he receives comments every day asking “what happened to him” and people that blame his body shape on “lack of exercise.”
However, he said he’s working out more than ever now, and “what happened” is simply that he has aged. It has been over 20 years since his first appearance on television and he doesn’t “have a six pack or a luscious head of hair (with frosted tips)” but he isn’t lacking.
Ty writes that he has “TRULY never been happier” and is fine with being older. He credited Paulina Porizkova for her body positivity and adopted her hashtag, #sexyhasnoexpirationdate.
Although body shamers may not be able to move past Ty’s age, fans of Ty not only enjoy seeing traits such as his wisdom and empathy, but his sense of humor that was displayed in the post that received so many negative comments.
Ty Pennington’s video shows him dancing on the beach
At the end of January, Ty shared a video to his Instagram story where he pulled his shorts up and danced on the beach for fun. Despite the negative comments, many fans found the video sweet and entertaining.
Even though he may not be 20 years younger and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition has run its course, fans still enjoy seeing the television host enjoying his life.
Ty Pennington is far from the only celebrity tired of people commenting on his body and weight, as Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan has had to ask people to stop asking about her body as well.