Remi Bader, TikTok Star And Body Positivity Activist, Is Seeking Treatment For Binge Eating

With over 2.1 million followers on TikTok, Remi Bader became a viral sensation on the platform due to her realistic clothing hauls where she orders clothes from a variety of labels, tries them on, and comically reviews them. She cracks jokes when the outfits don’t fit her but also talks to her followers about the importance of self-love no matter what size you are.

Remi Has Become the Face of Body Positivity, but It’s Not Actually Body Positive

Remi Bader is everywhere, helping brands that were not as size inclusive to rebrand and reach a broader audience. She has become Victoria’s Secret’s new PINK model and is helping the company extend their swimwear sizing to include up to XXL by trying on the clothes and giving them feedback before production. She’s also collaborating with Revolve to create the company’s first ever 3X clothing line in their new “Remi X Revolve” collection.

Despite all of this, a lot of Remi’s followers feel like she’s not doing enough for the body positivity movement. On a recent episode of The Morning Toast (TMT), she told host Claudia Oshry that doing these collaborations was “difficult because I got a lot of backlash because (XXL is not big enough) and that’s why I want to be a part of changing it…I know that like half of my following is like, ’well, do more.’” 

She does not want to be called body positive because she doesn’t feel positive about her body.

When asked by Claudia, “Do you think often that if your weight were to change that your followers would fluctuate?” Remi answered yes and admits that she recently confided in Khloe Kardashian about her fear of losing weight and ultimately losing followers because of it. Khloe encouraged her to be selfish in her decision to lose the weight if that’s ultimately what she wants to do no matter what other people think.

When called the “face of body positivity,” Remi replied that she does not want to be called body positive because she doesn’t feel positive about her body. She admitted that she’s struggling with accepting herself after gaining 60 pounds over the past year. She recounted how she feels great when she’s in front of the camera filming TikToks but is struggling when it’s just her alone with herself at the end of the day.

Seeking Treatment for Binge Eating

This past Tuesday, just one month after her appearance on TMT, Remi took to social media to let her followers know that she would be starting a six-week outpatient treatment program for binge eating for a few hours a day, several days per week where she would eat and participate in therapies they offer.

“How I feel about myself, my body, my confidence, and obviously a lot of that has to do with my binge eating.”

When reflecting on how she came to this decision, Remi said, “The past year and a half, I can't even explain how happy I am that I've gotten to the point where I am, that this is my life and this is my job. But the past few months I almost started feeling…that things are getting worse for me. How I feel about myself, my body, my confidence, and obviously a lot of that has to do with my binge eating." Since things were “not getting any better,” she decided to take action and share everything with her followers despite the potential backlash. 

Closing Thoughts

While I am in awe of Remi’s vulnerability and sending her positive thoughts and encouragement as she embarks on this very difficult and personal journey, I do think it is important to really listen to the things she has said over the past month because she has revealed a very negative side of this body positivity movement that is sweeping the nation.

Body positivity refers to the assertion that all people deserve to have a positive body image, regardless of how society and popular culture view ideal shape, size, and appearance. While that sounds like a good thing, this movement can also become dangerous because it removes the crucial factor of health from the equation. Now, not everyone is meant to be an ultra-fit Victoria’s Secret Angel or even a size small for that matter, but maintaining a healthy body mass is important for your physical and mental well-being. The pendulum has swung from models being afraid of gaining weight and losing jobs to now plus size models being afraid of losing weight and losing jobs. Not to mention the many health risks that come with being overweight such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and even death. 

As a society and especially as women, we should be focused on promoting healthy lifestyles and encouraging people to be their best selves. Ultimately, a mentally and physically healthy person should be the focus of the body positivity movement.

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