Singer slams criticism of her natural breasts in BET Awards dress: ‘Focus on better things'
Suzy Byrne, Editor - Yahoo Entertainment
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Singer Tanerélle is happy with her body — and anybody who isn’t can just step out of her path.
The “Dreamgirl” singer attended Sunday’s BET Awards looking and feeling good in a low-cut dress, by designer Batani-Khalfani, which exposed some of her chest. However, the look led to comments on social media about her natural breasts and how they needed a “lift” in the frock.
She didn’t take kindly to the criticism and responded on Twitter.
“To all the negative comments about today’s look, I don’t need to lift my breast[s] to wear a f***ing dress,” she wrote. “I’m a woman and my natural t**s hang and I f***ing love it and I have no intention of changing it to suit your gaze. I’m out here living my dreams. Focus on better things.”
On Monday, Tanerélle addressed the topic on Instagram. She said she initially had taped one breast, but “looked at it & made a conscious decision to take it off because I actually loved the way my natural breasts looked in comparison to the ‘perfect’ option.”
She reiterated, “Last time I checked, what I thought about how I look was all that mattered, so I’m gonna keep going with that cause it’d be f***ing impossible to please EVERYONE when it comes to ME. I can’t be everyone’s favorite and I don’t wanna be, but as long as I’m able to go home and feel yummy about myself, especially from the self hate that I’ve spent my life growing out of...I’m f***ing GOOD.”
But she said the self-hate of others needs to change.
“What I do care about is noticing that so many women are still stuck in a daze of self hate, people pleasing and projecting how you feel about you in an attempt to make someone feel the same,” she wrote. “What I care about is that there are women out there still allowing the male gaze to determine their worth and what they can and can’t do. This reminder of socialized minds in regards to a woman’s body always rocks me a bit, but it’s not gonna knock me down. It just intensifies my mission of pushing self care and self love even more.”
Tanerélle ended by writing, “You owe it to yourself to at least try to embrace the parts of you you don’t like because someone else said you shouldn’t. Your body, no matter what it looks like is doing all it can everyday to keep you alive and thriving, that to me deserves all the f***ing love and care I can give, so I’m gonna. Cheers to the t**s!!! small t**, big t**, fake t**, no t**s, all t**s! And cheers to being a f***ing woman.”
The post used the hashtag “In Women We Trust,” which is the title of her 2018 song about women’s empowerment.
Batani-Khalfani, who designed the dress, also spoke out in support of Tanerélle. She said the singer “rocked” the dress, and slammed the trolls.
The Project Runway alum added, “I design for bomb women with curves and her fly curves looked beautiful in my fly dress without all the lifts, without the tape and all that. I always respect a woman who is willing to be who she is because I'm going to always be who I am no matter what anybody says and those are the women I design for.”
