INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

‘Cosmopolitan’ Magazine Celebrates Woman Getting Cancer As Weight-Loss Secret, Internet Lashes Out

By Danny Cox
Published on: 03:29 PST, Apr 13, 2017

For decades upon decades, Cosmopolitan magazine has been giving tips on all sorts of things to its large span of readers, and many of those tips were focused on weight-loss. Almost everyone cares about staying healthy and trying to shed a few extra pounds using safe methods. Well, the famous magazine is under fire right now for celebrating a woman’s weight-loss “secret,” which was apparently getting cancer.

Yes, the magazine actually tweeted out in celebration and excitement about how an Australian fitness Instagram star lost 44 pounds “without any exercise” at all. They wanted readers to click through and find out just how Simone Harbinson actually did this magnificent feat.

Readers looking for weight-loss tips learned that Simone Harbinson shed the 44 pounds after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, according to the Washington Post.

That’s not to mention that she dealt with numerous other health issues such as a severe kidney infection, removal of part of her colon, a partial lung collapse, and other things. Harbinson, 31, is a mother of two who was diagnosed with a malignant carcinoid tumor of the appendix back in 2014.

After learning of her cancer, she had to be quarantined and dealt with chronic pain which was coming from a damaged disc in her back. She has come through all of those horrible times in her life and become an Instagram sensation and fitness blogger, which seemed to be why Cosmo focused on her weight loss more than anything.

In the article, the magazine pinpoints that she “lost 44 pounds without a single session in the gym.” While she can’t work out and do as much fitness-wise as she used to, the fact is that she lost weight due to her cancer battle and Cosmopolitan used it as a click-bait headline.

Perhaps, it is needless to say but the Internet was outraged.

As you can see in filmmaker Matthew A. Cherry’s tweet about cancer not being a diet plan, the tweet he was responding to had been deleted. Cosmopolitan removed that tweet after receiving a lot of backlash, but this is Twitter, and numerous screenshots had already been taken.

The story of Simone Harbinson is still up on the official website of Cosmpolitan, but the title has been changed to “A Serious Health Scare Helped Me Love My Body More Than Ever.” As of Thursday morning, though, the URL for the story still just read “simone-harbinson-no-exercise.”

Numerous other media outlets have picked up her magnificent and amazing story, but unfortunately, so much attention is going to Cosmopolitan over their poor choice of promotion.

On an interesting note, though, Business Insider also wrote an article on Simone Harbinson’s health scare, but the title focus is also about losing 44 pounds due to “meal prep,” and that she did it without hitting the gym. The site immediately goes into her health scare and cancer battle, but the title of the piece says nothing about it at all.

As reported by the Boston Globe, the magazine has been trying to do a bit to save face, but they haven’t actually commented publicly on the backlash. Still, the damage has been done, and people are not going to forget about it.

Simone Harbinson has had to deal with many obstacles in life, such as cancer and numerous other medical issues, but she has persevered to live and enjoy life. Her story is an amazing inspiration, one that should be heard by everyone around the world.

[Featured Image by Estherrr/iStock]

Share this article: ‘Cosmopolitan’ Magazine Celebrates Woman Getting Cancer As Weight-Loss Secret, Internet Lashes Out
cancer
More from Inquisitr