After starring on popular reality show 19 Kids and Counting and amassing a following of over a million on Instagram, it’s safe to say that Joy-Anna Duggar is used to total strangers making unsolicited (and unkind) comments about every aspect of her life that she chooses to share. But this time, it sounds like one of her critics went too far, and Joy isn’t letting them get away with it.
It started with a fresh-faced selfie Joy shared on Instagram.
In a post on her Instagram Stories that has since expired, Joy shared a selfie from the car, holding up her minimal makeup that would help protect her skin from a day in the sun.
It’s a pretty harmless selfie, and Joy looks happy here. But unfortunately, it provoked someone to send her a mean private message about her appearance.
She shared a response she got from one of her followers.
Later, she returned to her Instagram Stories to share a screenshot of a DM that she’d received privately that read, “Terrible skin.”
“This is just plain rude,” Joy wrote. “I know I have acne. I have always had acne … it would come and go, but the last few months I have been struggling with BAD acne (hormonal & possibly food related).”
She continued, “I always want to be real with you guys. If I’m struggling with acne, I’m not going to use filters to cover it up, because that is life. I know so. many of us struggle with it. Please be kind.”
Some people stuck up for her on Reddit.
While discussing Joy-Anna’s post on Reddit — where users are generally extremely critical of Joy and her famous family — multiple people gave her props for being brave enough to go filter-free.
One person wrote: “I think [it’s] refreshing that her photos aren’t filtered into oblivion. You can see normal skin texture. I think there are [too] many filtered photos on social media and we forgot how normal, non perfect skin looks.”
“It must be horrible to not only have to deal with the acne but also relentless comments pointing it out,” read another comment.
Good for Joy for keeping it real.
It can’t be easy for her to receive comments like this one, let alone the many others she likely deals with on a daily basis. But it’s good to see that she’s not letting it stop her from sharing what she wants on Instagram the way that she chooses to. She’s right — there are plenty of others out there who will feel less alone because of it.
