The wife of an AFL player has opened up about the painful reason she chose to retake her wedding photos just six months after marrying her childhood sweetheart.
When Chloe Pink first shared photos from her April wedding to North Melbourne player Toby Pink, she never imagined it would lead to six months of body-shaming.
The 25-year-old said her wedding celebration quickly became a “cesspit of body-shaming” after the images were re-shared on Facebook, sparking a wave of online abuse.
Instead of enjoying newlywed life, Pink found herself “at home crying and deleting and blocking messages” from people calling her a “pig” and “fat.”
She recently decided to retake her wedding photos because she was tired of the constant reminders of the trolling.
“When we got married, we shared those photos naively,” she told news.com.au.
Pink said that when she looks at her original wedding photos, she doesn’t think about her wedding day itself – but rather the painful fallout that followed.
“I look at those photos now and there is no real connection because they are associated with articles and negative comments,” she explained.
The idea to redo the photos came from influencer Stephanie Claire-Smith, who offered to pay for a new photoshoot after Pink appeared on her podcast to discuss the trolling.
Pink said she thought it was a “lovely idea” and a positive way to reclaim her wedding memories.
“We are so happy we did it,” she said.
The couple recreated their original look – wearing the same outfits and hairstyle – but this time, Mrs Pink said the goal wasn’t to change her appearance.
“She didn’t want to change how she looked on her wedding day; she wanted to change how she felt when she looked at the photos,” the report said.
“We will eventually share a few photos, but now we have photos for ourselves that are private,” she said.
“We can put them up in our home and keep these beautiful photos for us.”
Pink said it was meaningful to have something “just for them” – images that wouldn’t be “stained by online commentary.”
However, six months later, she continues to face cruel remarks online.
When she attended the AFL’s Best and Fairest Awards night, trolls again targeted her.
“Someone on Instagram asked whether she was ‘charged extra’ for the fabric of her dress,” the report noted.
Even on honeymoon photos, the same comments followed.
“I uploaded a video of us on our honeymoon, at the beach, and someone said, ‘Finally the whale is in her natural habitat,’” she told news.com.au.
Pink said the abuse is relentless.
“It is so bad. I think everyone thinks it is fun now,” she said.
“It is the same stuff, and no one has anything negative to say about who I am, but it is about the way I look.”
Even when she shares videos addressing the impact of body-shaming, commenters continue to mock her, calling her “fat” and telling her to lose weight.
The relentless cruelty has taken an emotional toll, making it difficult for her to ignore or move past the abuse.
Pink said she’s often told to ignore the comments, but that advice fails to grasp the emotional toll.
“You don’t get it if you’re not in this position and you don’t know how it feels,” she explained.
“Everyone says to ignore it, but it is not your body getting criticised.”
Images: Instagram
