{"id":407360,"date":"2026-01-12T02:01:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T02:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/407360\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T02:01:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T02:01:12","slug":"ilona-maher-body-shaming-rugby-star-shares-comeback-to-man-who-told-her-she-looks-pregnant-on-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/407360\/","title":{"rendered":"Ilona Maher body shaming: Rugby star shares comeback to man who told her she looks pregnant on social media"},"content":{"rendered":"

Professional rugby player Ilona Maher<\/a> isn’t going to take comments about her body<\/a> quietly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead, the 29-year-old sportswoman<\/a> shared her incredible clap back to a man who told her looked “pregnant” wearing a tight dress.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sharing her response on Instagram<\/a>, she felt the need to reiterate her point, especially after he deleted the comment after she replied.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Watch the video above.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IlonaIlona Maher has shared her epic clapback to the man who accused her of looking ‘pregnant’ in a tight dress. (Instagram\/@ilonamaher)<\/p>\n

“A guy recently commented on a picture of me and said, ‘You look pregnant in that dress,'” she started while looking directly at the camera.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“And he deleted his comment because I had a great comeback, but I wanted to do it again for you all.”<\/p>\n

Maher, who was wearing a figure-hugging orange dress in the clip, then repeated what she initially told the man.<\/p>\n

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\"IlonaThe professional rugby player reminded the man that this is just what a normal woman’s body looks like. (Instagram\/@ilonamaher)<\/p>\n

“So to him, I say, ‘That’s just a normal woman’s body. You probably haven’t seen a woman naked in a long time, if ever, and I hope you never get the privilege to again, ’cause that’s just how we are, OK?'” she continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maher then turned side on and explained that due to her career, this is what her body looks like.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“That’s just what we’re working with. Me, [a] professional athlete,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I always have this, OK?” she added, motioning to her stomach.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I’m sucking it in right now. And I have it, so, please, please, stop commenting the dumbest stuff.”<\/p>\n

Maher posted the video to her 5.4 million followers on Instagram with the caption, “I think this message is too important not to share again,” and it’s already received almost 800k likes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So many women praised her for sharing the post and shared their own views of the comment he made.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I’ve always found it incredibly sad that looking pregnant is meant as an insult too \ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d I look like I’m creating life? OK doing WAY more than you then,” commented Meg Mansell, a NZ radio announcer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Where else does he want our organs to go? In our purses?” another woman commented.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“God forbid we have a uterus,” replied another.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Others just praised her for being such a strong role model.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of 9honey, subscribe to our newsletter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ilona has become a really strong role model for women, both on and off the field. (Hugo Pfeiffer\/Icon Sport\/Getty Images via CNN)\"IlonaIlona Maher landed the cover of SI Swimsuit’s September 2024 digital issue cover. (Ben Watts \/ Sports Illustrated)<\/p>\n

Maher, who has competed at the Olympics, has previously talked about how rugby has helped empower her and accept her body over the years.<\/p>\n

“I was always like, you know, called masculine or whatever,”\ufeff she told Sports Illustrated<\/a> in her cover interview for the August 2024 issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“But I never felt that way… I love that [rugby] showed me what I can do. It showed me how capable my body is and it’s not just like a tool to be looked at and objectified.”<\/p>\n

Maher started play rugby at age 17 and has gone on to quite a successful career both on and off the field.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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