Lose weight to be a bridesmaid at your wedding? No thanks

If a relative asked you to lose weight to be a bridesmaid at her wedding, would you?

This young woman decided not to.

She’d have you know that she’s quite comfortable the way she is, so thanks, but no thanks.

And she’s winning fans online for that.

Ms Olive Chiemerie, a Nigerian, appeared to be an only child.

She tweeted that her cousin, “the closest thing I have to a sibling” didn't want her to be the maid of honour at the wedding, for which she would have to lose weight by December.

Instead of trying to do that, she decided not to attend. And she went public with it.

 

My closest cousin, the closest thing I have to a sibling, has officially confirmed I won't be her maid of honour cos I'm just too fat for a maid of honour role.

Have to lose some weight before December or no maid of honour duties for me.

I shan't be attending the wedding ✌?

— Ife Nkili ? (@Zioraife) June 5, 2022

 

She later told BuzzFeed that she and the cousin had been brought up in the same family home, and she had assumed she would be the maid of honour.

But when they were discussing the upcoming wedding with a friend, the bride said she was “still contemplating which of her light-skinned, slim friends to ask to be maid of honour”.

Ms Chiemerie said she was stunned and insulted that her cousin considered her too fat for the role.

"If... she had a friend… with whom she shared a bond much greater than the one we did, I'd understand because of course, that we're related shouldn't be the sole determinant - but it was only just about the aesthetics."

Her cousin felt she was overreacting.

But Ms Chiemerie explained it wasn’t about not getting to be the maid of honour, as she hadn’t even been looking forward to it.

“I'm not upset about that,” she told BuzzFeed. “It’s... that she not only didn’t think me worthy, but she also doesn’t realise or understand why it hurt me."

Ms Chiemerie’s decision to skip the wedding clearly has not gone down well with the family.

She added in a later tweet: “Begging me to attend for what? So I'd damage the aesthetics? Nah, I'll stay home, press my phone all day, happy married life Couz!”

She also said she had been bullied all her life “for genes I have absolutely no control over” and it was only thanks to her being a strong-willed person that she did not end up loathing her body.

She doesn’t appear to have any self-esteem issues now. Among the images she has put on Facebook is this cartoon.

Her intro says she lives in Lagos and is single.

She seems to be enjoying life. And proving to be something of an inspiration.

Her initial tweet, on June 5, has been retweeted some 12,000 times, and has picked up more than 218,000 likes.