Brooke Birmingham, a blogger who worked tirelessly to lose more than 170 pounds, thought she had made it when “Shape” magazine called to feature her inspiring story.
But there was one caveat — the fitness mag requested the 28-year-old Illinois resident to send another photo of her “after” body, this time with a shirt on.
Birmingham’s prior “after” photo isn’t obscene — it merely shows Birmingham in a bikini top and shorts. And her stomach has the loose skin common for people who lose a vast amount of weight.
“It’s just the editorial policy with these stories, simple as that,” the reporter wrote back to Birmingham, according to Birmingham’s account on her blog, BrookeNotOnADiet.com.
“Really?” the Quad Cities resident wrote. “Have you logged on to Shape’s website lately? You can find MANY women in bikinis on the site.”
Birmingham said she was “furious” with the supposed double-standard of featuring other women in tight-fitting tops and sports bras while requiring her to cover up, telling the Shape reporter that it gave the magazine’s readers “a false look at weight loss.”
She continued: “The story I wanted to tell and shout out to the world, not their ideal story. So if I couldn’t tell it my way, then they weren’t going to be able to tell it at all.”
Shape said in a statement that the whole incident was a “misunderstanding” with one of their freelance writers. “This does not represent ‘Shape’s’ editorial values and the comments made about ‘Shape’s’ editorial policy are absolutely untrue,” a spokesperson told E! News.
There was so much traffic on Birmingham’s blog Wednesday afternoon that it crashed. She wrote on Twitter that she hoped to get the blog functioning again soon so others could read her inspirational story.
bstebner@nydailynews.com
On a mobile device? Click to watch the video.
