Plus Size Model Confronts Body Shamer On Flight And Films It All

By Dave Basner

July 5, 2017

Many people have been victims of body shaming, but when the airline passenger sitting next to plus size model Natalie Hage started texting awful things about her body, she stood up for herself and for anyone who has been bullied – and she recorded it all.

i'm shaking right now. i'm on a flight to LA right now on @americanair. i paid almost $70 extra for this seat i'm in because i know i need a little extra leg room. i'm extremely flight anxious but there were only middle seats available so i had to take what i could get. as soon as i sat down, the gentleman on my left began LOUDLY huffing, sighing, and readjusting himself in his seat. i see him furiously texting and then purposefully turning the phone away from me. so, naturally next time he texts, i take a look. the texts were about me and i'm almost positive he took photos of me. not only were the texts about me, but they were really mean and ugly, with even the recipient named 'linda' chiming back with shaming retorts...someone who can't even see the situation. if you can't read the texts, it says 'hopefully she didn't have any mexican food' and his response is 'i think she ate a mexican'. then he proceeds to say he's leaving a 'neck mark on the window' because he's so smashed against the wall. from the photos, you can see i'm not in his space. he's even taken over both arm rests on purpose, coming to my space and digging his elbows into my side...which is in my seat. his next text to her was 'if the news reports a DFW airbus a321 leaving the runway without rotating, that would be my flight.' another i see later? 'if these seats don't hold, it's not going to matter.' and that's just a few of them. there were several more. i didn't do anything to him. i'm in my seat, completely (see photos). i am crumpled into a ball trying to not bother. i'm just so upset. i asked the other man to my right if he'd switch me and told him what the man was saying about me and he said laughed and refused. that's fine, it's not his issue. this is a fat person's daily reality and not just on a plane. this is on a bus, standing in line at the grocery store, at a concert, on the internet. you can be completely in your own space, not bothering anyone, and people will still fuck with you and try to hurt you. all you can do is know you haven't done anything wrong just by existing and to move on. this just makes me a mixture of enraged and super sad.

A post shared by natalie. (@nataliemeansnice) on Jun 29, 2017 at 9:55am PDT

Even though Natalie paid extra to have legroom on her flight to a photo shoot in LA, she still had to put up with an inconsiderate man in her row. She saw the hurtful texts he was writing about her, things like “If the plane goes down, you’ll know why.”

Rather than let something like that slide, Natalie confronted her seatmate after they landed, calling him out on his disrespect.

here's the video i took with the man, eric, who did this shitty shit to me. i hope my voice isn't too shaky and my voice...
Posted by Natalie Hage on Thursday, June 29, 2017

He denied the messages at first, then admitted to them, saying he had been drinking. While he was apologetic, he then went on to say she shouldn’t be sitting in an exit row where she might need to help people.

Hage continued to school him on how and why his behavior is totally inappropriate, and now, one-million people have tuned in to her video, something that means a lot to her.

❤️EDIT: THE VIDEO NOW HAS OVER A MILLION VIEWS ON FACEBOOK!!! HOLY COW!!!! THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT! ❤️i wanted to say hello to everyone new joining my neck of the woods. thank you so so so much for the messages and comments overflowing with kindness. my heart is full. i didn't want to leave y'all hanging - i actually ended up saying something to him when we landed. i couldn't NOT speak up. i'm so tired of fat people being a social punching bag. i won't stand for it. i hope this dude learned something today.

A post shared by natalie. (@nataliemeansnice) on Jun 29, 2017 at 9:20pm PDT

Hopefully, everyone will watch this video and body shaming will be a thing of the past.