How Miss Canada Siera Bearchell Rises Above Body-Shamers
Welcome to Talking Body, a series where we have honest conversations with women about their bodies. Today, we have Miss Canada Siera Bearchell, who made headlines while competing in Miss Universe last January for being "bigger" than the average pageant contestant. As images of her in a bikini circulated, she faced endless body-shaming on social media. Here, she opens up about getting past the backlash, how she overcame body image pressures as a teen pageant queen, and how she learned to stop comparing herself to other women.
I started competing in pageants in 2009, when my family and I lost our home to a house fire and we were helped a lot by the Red Cross. I started volunteering, but I wanted to give back on a greater scale so I heard about this Miss Teen Saskatchewan and I thought if I were to win a title, I could speak to people about disaster preparedness and disaster relief. I kept competing after that and had a lot of really cool opportunities that I would have never had otherwise.
When I was a teen, I was a dancer and one of those girls that could eat whatever she wanted and it didn't affect my physical body. I was that girl where people would tell me, "oh you need to eat a cheeseburger" because people thought I was too thin. For me, it was never an issue. I was active. I was healthy. I never really cared what people said then, just like I don't now. But, I struggled because I first competed for Miss Universe Canada in 2013 and when I ended up being first runner-up but on my journey to that competition, I was told I had to lose X amount of pounds to have a potential to win the competition. As it was, I was already really healthy. I ran my first half marathon then and so I really competed with what I thought was healthy. I thought, if [losing weight] is what it takes to win, then do I really want to win? Because I don't want to change who I am. I caved though, and I really restricted my eating and I was absolutely miserable leading up to the competition. I was never happy with what I looked like or what I was being told to do.
I was instructed to eat as little as possible and, if I was really struggling, I could have a chicken breast with some greens at one point in the day. I was a law student then, and I couldn't focus on my studies. I couldn't even workout to the level I would because I literally had no fuel for my body. Less than a year ago I was in a competition called Miss Supranational and some days I would have a single protein bar–half in the morning and half later on and do hours of workouts. I was told "If you want to be successful, this is what you have to do," and no matter how strong of a person you are, it's really easy to fall under that pressure. You lose a bunch of weight but gain it after competition and can't help but not feel good enough. Longterm it really plays with you in a negative way.
At Miss Universe this year, I decided I was not going to go down that same path because it wasn't representing who I was. It wasn't representing what I wanted to be as an example for young women. I never thought that I would be, I guess, an advocate or promoting body image or self-worth but it just kind of happened. When I look back I think I was basing my self-worth and validation and self-confidence based on trying to be this image of what someone was telling me to be. I was finally able to accept this is who I am, this is okay, and our bodies change, that is okay. I am so fortunate that I was able to see that at 26 years old rather than living my whole life still not being happy.
I was finally able to accept this is who I am, this is okay, and our bodies change, that is okay
When I competed before, I was always comparing myself to others like this girl is taller, this girl has a smaller waist, maybe that means she's better than me because I don't have that body, or look that certain way. What I came to realize is, even though it's a competition, the judges are judging you for you. You're going to do well based on if you're confident with who you are and you're bringing your best self to the competition because they can see through someone's if they're not confident with who they are.
I am so moved by the messages I get from young women who tell me that I helped them love themselves for who they are and I helped change their life and their perspective and that they have never been comfortable in their own skin until they started to read some of my posts. That's stuff that is most important to me. Of course, I am blown away by some peoples comments sometimes–they'll tell me I am promoting obesity and all kinds of crazy things–but I know its just people trying to be ignorant and rude. You're still putting that out there for the world to see, though. It's just sad.
I spent so much time and focus thinking I had to be more lean, lose a few pounds, have more defined abs, more defined arms, and for what? It's so silly.
One thing I learned from Ashley Graham is to be the role model that you want to have. So if I would have been able to tell my younger self something, it would be to simply love yourself for who you are and it's okay to be yourself in a world that wants you to be something else and to not fall under those pressures to look a certain way or be a certain way. I spent so much time and focus thinking I had to be more lean, lose a few pounds, have more defined abs, more defined arms and for what? It's so silly. If you have those goals in mind, that is awesome if you want to reach them for the right reasons. But if you have them just because you are trying to fit what society wants you to be then you'll never be truly happy. There is not just one body that is beautiful. I just want to show women that it's not just looking a certain way that makes you beautiful.
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