Brandy Pens Powerful Post Against Body Shaming: ‘Be Gentler With One Another’

Brandy encouraged her fans to be “gentler with one another” in an empowering post about body positivity.

“I’ve learned that it takes only a moment to form an opinion about someone’s appearance, and a lifetime to understand what they’ve lived through,” the Cinderella star, 47, wrote to her Instagram followers on Saturday, July 11.”So may we become gentler with one another. Not because everyone is fragile, but because everyone is carrying a story we cannot see.”

Her open letter started with a reflection on what “beauty” actually means in the age of social media.

“Perhaps we’ve been looking for it in all the wrong places. In youth. In perfection. In approval. In bodies that never change and faces that never age,” she explained. “But life was never meant to leave us untouched. It shapes us. It humbles us. It refines us. Every season leaves its signature upon us. And maybe that’s where beauty has been all along. Not in escaping change, but in becoming through it.”

The “Boy Is Mine” singer — who shares daughter Sy’rai, 24, with ex Robert “Big Bert” Smith — advised fans that “the world will always be tempted to measure people by what is visible.”

“But love has never looked only at the surface. Love sees the whole person,” she wrote. “I’ve stopped trying to earn my reflection. I’ve stopped asking the mirror to tell me who I am. I know who I am. And that knowing has given me a freedom no opinion could ever take away.”

Brandy wrapped up her post by expressing hope that her thoughtful words would leave an impression on potential body-shamers.

“Before you speak about someone’s body, before you speak about someone’s face, before you decide who they are by what you see, remember, you are looking at someone’s child. Someone’s friend. Someone’s dream. Someone’s life. A soul,” she concluded. “And souls have always been more beautiful than surfaces.”

Brandy also shared a carousel of stunning photos of her wearing an entirely gold ensemble, including a netted coverup and hoop earrings.