Twenty-five-year-old Madison Bailey has eight million Instagram followers, a recurring role in one of Netflix’s most popular youth dramas, and an exercise regimen that would wear most people out. She hikes trails in Los Angeles, lifts weights with her Outer Banks co-stars, and gets ginseng shots at craft services rather than the Red Bulls everyone else is reaching for. In all honesty, she takes care of herself. However, over the course of the last year or so, a growing segment of the internet has determined that whether or not her body has changed is the most intriguing aspect of her.
As these things usually do, the comments began to appear on TikTok. Screenshots went viral. Side-by-side comparisons were posted by fan accounts. She still looked stunning “even though she gained some weight,” according to a since-deleted post on Threads, which was framed as a compliment rather than what it sounds like. There’s a pattern here that needs to be identified clearly: when a young Black woman in the public eye undergoes a completely normal and unremarkable body change, the internet reacts by turning it into a long-running discussion topic.
Bailey hasn’t, at least not formally, responded to the rumors. What has been recorded is her brief, human response to the barrage of derogatory remarks made about her appearance on TikTok, as well as the support she received from her followers. It’s possible that she’s just deciding not to respond to the chatter. That would make sense. It’s also possible that the remarks are truly hurtful, as remarks about anyone’s body can be, no matter how many followers they have.
It is important to be clear about the fitness record because the rumors contradict what Bailey has publicly disclosed about her life, not because it should be relevant in this discussion. She has discussed strength training, hiking miles of trails on days when she could have done nothing, and making health-related goals at the beginning of each year—not just to look a certain way, but because she seems to genuinely value her physical and mental well-being. That doesn’t align with the online narrative that is being created about her.
Bailey’s situation isn’t unique, which is one of the reasons it’s worth writing about. The body-scrutiny machine that surrounds female celebrities, especially young ones on prestigious streaming shows, has a way of gaining momentum on its own without regard to justice or the truth. A show’s filming style varies from season to season. Change your wardrobe. The angles of the camera change. Over time, natural bodies change. Even though none of that needs to be explained or commented upon, the criticism still occurs, frequently in the form of concern or even admiration, which makes it more difficult to criticize directly.
Seeing it happen to someone who, by all public accounts, has already endured more than her fair share of scrutiny is truly unsettling. Bailey has been candid about being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, coming out as pansexual at the age of eighteen, and the unique experience of becoming well-known at the age of twenty-one while still discovering her identity. She has discussed mental health openly in ways that require genuine bravery. Asking her to endure constant criticism about her waist size seems excessive.
The discussion surrounding Madison Bailey’s weight gain isn’t really about her. The need to monitor, evaluate, and describe women’s bodies as though doing so would be beneficial is a cultural reflex. It doesn’t. She appears to be living her life. That ought to be the conclusion.
