Do You Internalize People's Comments About Your Body? Let's Talk About Mischa Barton's Crisis

Have you guys been following the Mischa Barton news? She was hospitalized and held for a psychiatric evaluation after some say she was "on the brink of disaster," but now friends are speaking out and saying the drama in her life isn't a result of substance abuse. Instead, it's about her body insecurities, fueled by mean bloggers and media snarkiness about her weight. Do you also internalize mean comments from others? As much as I try, I'll never forget this ...

A few weeks after my surgery to remove the gargantuan ovarian cyst I developed while I was pregnant with my second baby, Russell, someone made a careless comment--while I was eating a brownie--that went something like this: "How are you ever going to get back into shape when you eat like that?"

I wanted to say, hello, I just had a baby ... and abdominal surgery! Can you cut me some slack, please? Instead, I bit my lip.

True, I did have baby weigh to lose then (I still do). True, the belly was a little on the flabby side (um, still is). True, I probably shouldn't have been eating that brownie. But, the comment was unnecessary and it stung. And to make matters worse, this person continued to badger me with several more comments throughout the course of the day, until I ended up in my bedroom hovered over a box of Kleenex. There I was, a strong and confident woman (at least I think so!), and I'd let someone reduce me to tears--just like that.

Imagine dealing with this over the course of several months or years? Psychological breakdown? You know, I can't sit here and say that I wouldn't melt down. If the reports are true, that the crisis Mischa's enduring right now is indeed fueled by self-hate after months, years even, of reading about her "weight gain," "cellulite," and "flabby thighs," in the press, I can absolutely understand how things in her life sort of spun out of control. (See photos of Mischa after she lost a lot of weight several months back. She blamed the weight loss on "stress.")

How about you? Have you ever been badgered about the way you looked by someone else? When you were younger or now as an adult? How did it make you feel and what did you do about it?