‘Southern Charm’ Star Kathryn Dennis Talks Body Image And Bathing Suit Season

Aging and changing bodies, it happens to all of us, but not in front of cameras on reality television. Southern Charm star Kathryn Dennis is comfortable in her own skin, despite having two kids and going from a 21-year-old senior at the University of South Carolina to a nearly 27-year-old single mom, seeking full custody of her two kids under age 6 with embattled former cast member Thomas Ravenel.

Bravo TV reports that Kathryn dresses for herself, using her 80/20 theory of putting an outfit together. This works by combining 20 percent high-end fashion pieces with 80 percent of the items being on the lower end from places like Target. She calls this personal style “unbasic.”

Dennis says she’s aware that she no longer looks like a teen Instagram model in a bathing suit, but wanted to pose for the first time in years in a bathing suit to show her “mom bod” and to get over the body image scrutiny that is often self-imposed.

“This is probably my first bathing suit photo in I don’t even know, three years. Probably before Saint was born. I was trying to look like a little 19-year-old Instagram model. Just kidding, but not really. Honestly I haven’t been comfortable showing off my assets, my curves, all of these new things that have happened to my body, in a really long time, and I just decided one day, who in the F cares.”

Dennis is living out loud in all sense of the term, sharing her struggles with depression and anxiety, and now, posting in all caps that she used the Photoshop smoothing tool on her body with the world map.

She explained that she no longer feels that she’s in anyone’s shadow, and she likes herself the way she is. Kathryn says it’s her form of visual expression, and finds it empowering to wear what she likes. She jokes that if she wasn’t a girl, she’d be a drag queen.

Dennis admits she’s grown a thicker skin, but some comments can just be hurtful, says The Inquisitr. Around Thanksgiving, she posted a picture with cast member Austen Kroll at his parents’ house, wearing a fitted white blouse and a black skirt. People asked her on Instagram if she was pregnant, and if it was Austen’s baby. She didn’t get angry, she just answered candidly.

“No, I have just gained weight.”

While Kathryn took it in stride, Austen posted on Instagram to ask people why they would say such a thing.

“What is wrong with y’all?”