Love Island’s Megan Barton-Hanson writes insults like ‘slut’ and ‘fake’ on face for anti-bullying campaign
‘In this day and age, you’re damned if you do, and you’re damned if you don’t’
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Love Island’s Megan Barton-Hanson has taken part in an empowering anti-bullying campaign, writing insults that she’s received in the past such as “slut” and “fake” on her face to raise awareness for the important cause.
Following the conclusion of the show in July, the finalist faced a barrage of harsh criticism over her appearance and previous career choices.
As she explains to Glamour UK, who launched the “Blend Out Bullying” campaign earlier this year, she hadn’t anticipated quite how aggressively people would react to her when she left the villa.
“When I came out of Love Island, I couldn’t believe the amount of hate I got,” she says in a video posted on her Instagram page.
“People were like, calling me a slut and I had loads of slut-shaming about previous career choices.
“I was not naive and I thought I would get a lot of stick for like, my sexuality and how I played it in there, but what really got me was all the comments about my appearance.”
As part of the “#BlendOutBullying” campaign, Megan was filmed writing slurs that people had directed at her on her face with a Bobbi Brown makeup pencil, before using a brush to blend them in with her skin.
In her opinion, people will always find reason to criticise no matter what you do.
“I feel like, in this day and age, you’re damned if you do, and you’re damned if you don’t,” she says.
“You’re either like, criticised and bullied for the way you look, or you do something about it for yourself and then you’re criticised for that also.”
She continues, explaining that her choice to have cosmetic surgery was one that she made solely for herself, and no one else.
“When I took the decision to have surgery, I didn’t know I was going to be on Love Island. I didn’t know people would be looking up at me,” she says.
“I got cosmetic surgery because it made me happy. So you’ve got to be happy in yourself.”
Glamour beauty editor Lottie Winter, fitness influencer Carly Rowena and makeup artist Ling K. Tang are among the other individuals to have taken part in the campaign.
Earlier this week, Little Mix unveiled a photograph in which the four band members were sitting next to each other in the nude, with various insults that they’ve received written all over their bodies.
The photograph was taken in promotion of the group’s single ‘Strip’, from their new album LM5.
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