After breaking the internet with unedited swimsuit pictures, Angela Simmons wants other women to feel comfortable in their skin. The businesswoman hopped on Instagram Live on Tuesday to foster a candid conversation about body positivity, talking one on one with some of her fans.
Simmons started the live expressing gratitude for the positive responses she received after she posted her unedited pictures.
“I’m so excited to talk to ya’ll,” she said during the Instagram live. “I didn’t know that once I put up my [pictures] from Miami Swim Week at the Matte [Collection] swim show [that] I was going to receive the amount of love that I did. I really appreciate it.”
She said that she was “overwhelmed” by the praise and wanted to open up a dialogue about loving your body and how crucial it is and difficult it can be. She opened up to viewers about her own journey, sharing that she first started struggling with her body image at a very young age.
“For me, the journey’s been a long one,” she said. “When I was maybe 10, I had confidence issues when it came to my body and how I looked. I used to really struggle with weight, and where I was at, and it started so young.”
The 34-year-old said she remembers “not being sure in my own skin” for the duration of her childhood.
Things took a turn for the entrepreneur years later, when she was “19, 20.”
“I was living in L.A. and I gained a sense of health and learning how to properly take care of myself. And that’s where I gained my confidence,” she added.
Simmons recounted feeling solace in “knowing that I was in control of my destiny and where my body could go.”
“With dedication, working out, eating properly that I could get where I wanted to go, but I was only at the beginning of my body journey,” she continued.
After welcoming her son, Sutton Joseph Tennyson, she said she endured stress and her body subsequently responded to it.
Ultimately, it was learning “to love myself where I’m at” that helped Simmons improve her relationship with her body, something she encouraged her followers to do.
Simmons spoke to a woman who’s on dialysis due to kidney failure. She told Simmons that she’s awaiting a kidney transplant, and while she’s “tired” and it’s hard on her body, she’s looking forward to “getting back to where I was.”
“You got this,” Simmons told her. “You got this and I’m going to pray for you.”
Later, Simmons talked to a new mom who’s getting back into taking care of herself. The businesswoman commended her efforts to get back into the swing of things, understanding it firsthand.
