Ty Pennington Hits Back at Body Shamers Who Trolled His Shirtless Video

Ty Pennington has been a mainstay of home improvement television for more than two decades, hosting shows such as Trading Spaces and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. But when somebody spends nearly a third of their live on people's TV screens, some changes are bound to start showing up—and Pennington, 57, has recently called for "grace" after receiving body-shaming, ageist comments on social media.

It all began when he shared a video of himself having fun shirtless on the beach to 'Green Onions' by Booker T, pulling up his shorts and striking some dad-dance poses. It was as harmless as Instagram content can be, but led to an influx of comments from strangers on his appearance, which Pennington has since addressed in a new post.

"What was an honest moment of just trying to make my wife laugh, was then picked apart by strangers," he wrote. "With a lot of views, comes a lot of hate! Comments like "disgusting”, “gross”, “omg he’s so old now”, “grandpa”, “he got fat” (which btw I’m pushing my stomach out but ok). And I wondered, if I was still young and fit, would I be getting the same comments? There has been such a force behind accepting all shapes and sizes and aging in the female community which is AWESOME... but maybe let’s give that same grace to men?"

Pennington went on to add that he doesn't appreciate the speculation that his current physique is due to a "lack of exercise," as he is currently working out seven times a week. But that's hardly the point. In response to the question of "what happened" to him, he has a pretty simple answer:

"It's been 22 YEARS since I made my television debut! No, I don’t have a six pack anymore or a luscious head of hair (with frosted tips) but what I do have is wisdom, empathy, life lessons and at 57 years old, I’ve TRULY never been happier!"

He concluded the post by acknowledging the "wrinkles and sunspots and grey hair" in his latest photo, joking that "sex has no expiration date" and saying: "Cheers to getting older."

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