College student goes viral for sharing photos that celebrate her scars: 'You are beautiful'

Megan Sims
·2 min read
Karabo Tebedi shared a deeply personal moment on Twitter where she decided to embrace her scars. (Photo: Karabo Tebedi)
Karabo Tebedi shared a deeply personal moment on Twitter where she decided to embrace her scars. (Photo: Karabo Tebedi)

A college student from Port Elizabeth, South Africa went viral after posting pictures of herself on social media embracing her scars.

Karabo Tebedi, 19, took to Twitter on Thursday to post several pictures of herself baring prominent scars across her upper body and face. “Today I actually decided to celebrate my scars because wow they're lowkey FIRE,” wrote Tebedi.

As of Saturday, Tebedi’s tweet had been retweeted almost 100,000 times and liked one million times. Many Twitter users praised the teen, including Jameela Jamil, who wrote, “This is beautiful. You are beautiful.” Someone wrote, “Love the scar on my thigh... got it from a burn too sis you’re absolutely gorgeous.”

“[You] are a work of art stunning, literally everything about you,” said someone else. “Humans shouldn't hide their scars. It's natural,” wrote another.

“I am very surprised by the response because I didn't think that I'd receive so much love and positive vibes,” Tebedi tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “It has definitely boosted my confidence and self-love.”

The Nelson Mandela University student says that when she was around 2 or 3-years-old, a Primus stove burst in front of her, causing her clothes to catch on fire. “[I] spent a year or two in the hospital,” she recalls.

After watching a YouTube video by a South African woman named Loide Ndemueda who has visible scarring on her hands from being burned by a poisonous gas, Tebedi decided to post.

“I empower myself by reading a lot of quotes from Pinterest about self love and reading law of attraction too,” Tebedi tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “ I also tell myself that I'm beautiful and amazing every day.”

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:

Want daily pop culture news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here for Yahoo Entertainment & Lifestyle's newsletter.