Kim No Longer Smiles For Paparazzi & Here's Why

The amount of judgement, fat-shaming, and all-around hate a pregnant celebrity can receive is so disgustingly awful it will truly make you wonder what in holy hell happened to humanity and actual decent human beings. (Pro tip: Reading TMZ's celeb pregnancy headlines will probably make you want to stick multiple forks in your eyeballs.) And of all the expectant stars out there, there's no denying that paparazzi, certain media outlets, and Internet trolls are straight-up ruthless when it comes to Kim Kardashian, particularly when she was pregnant with North West.

The reality star — who was not only harvesting life and literally carrying a soon-to-be human being around for nine months — suffered from preeclampsia during her first pregnancy, which she revealed to C Magazine contributed to "not only the weight, but also the swelling that everyone would make fun of, not understanding that I had this condition." In the mag's September 2015 issue, Kardashian revealed how the pregnancy-shaming completely changed how she takes photos — and I don't blame her for it one bit.

In the interview, the reality star explained that she was so over putting on a happy face and catering towards press, to only have them turn around and publish nasty stories about her pregnancy. "It changed the way I viewed wanting my picture taken," Kardashian explained. "Before I was always smiling, and so into being out and about. After I had the baby, I was like, these are the same people that made fun of me, and posted the stories that were so awful, calling me fat for something I couldn't control. I don't want to smile for them. I don’t want to be out."

"Even if I was more confident, I just didn't feel like being that girl who was going to be smiling for every photo," she revealed. "It changed my mood; it changed who I was; it changed my personality a lot."

Of course it did. Celebrities (and particularly celebs like Kim Kardashian) are expected to have decent (or at least decent-ish) relationships with paparazzi, partially because it's a win-win (money for the paps, press for the stars) and partially because if you're nice to the photographers and give them what they want, maybe they'll leave you the hell alone after a while. (I've watched way too many "CELEBS SWARMED BY PAPARAZZI" YouTube videos.) But there are way too many times when the media crosses the line and body-shaming your "subject" is certainly one of them. Kim Kardashian doesn't want to smile in photos for photographers and videographers whose editors will later fat-shame her on their respective websites? Um, who could blame her for that?! Anyone walking down the street who is bombarded by horrible insults (or offensive headlines screaming off of supermarket tabloids) would be deeply hurt by those words. And it's time that we stop treating celebs like they're some special kind of case, because they're proven time and time again that they're not immune to the insults.

Still, for her second go-round (Kardashian's son is due in December), she explained that she and the paps have a much more amicable relationship these days. "That's probably why I can take [North] to ballet and things that she enjoys, because I feel like there has been a boundary that we've set," she said of the paparazzi she encounters. "It’s about teaching our kids that it’s a different world; there's social media where you can be scrutinized... but it can be hard on your soul when you are so scrutinized."

"So it's just about raising strong children," she concluded. "I would pray that whoever we bring into this life could handle this lifestyle, and I really believe they can. They chose us because they can."