Miss Canada Siera Bearchell: ‘I’m not promoting obesity, I’m promoting confidence’

Canadian beauty queen Siera Bearchell is back in the Philippines to promote iconic café Tim Hortons—and she packed some body-positive messages to share with her fans and even haters.

Speaking with the press at the launch of Tim Hortons on Friday, the beauty queen addressed the accusation that her advocacy is promoting obesity.

"I'm certainly not promoting obesity, that's ridiculous," Bearchell asserted. "I'm promoting being comfortable, being confident in your skin."

On Instagram, Bearchell continues to inspire. She writes, "I am strong, healthy, fit and I like who I am. Why should I change who I am for the acceptance of what others believe to be beautiful? I was finally able to love myself for who I was and I was not going to go down the dark path of self deprivation and depreciation that I had been down so many times before."

 

Before MISS UNIVERSE, I had countless people telling me to lose weight and to work on my "fitness." I almost felt like an outsider while I listened to people telling me to eat lean protein, only green vegetables and no fruit besides green apples. I was told to work on my legs because they were "too big", narrow my waist, and get liposuction to make the entire process "easier." I didn't find any of this shocking because I heard similar things for years and it was ingrained in my mind to be accepted. BUT for the first time, I was able to hear and see how utterly ridiculous it all was. What was wrong with my body? Why should I change it when I like the way it is? Why am I trying to fit this image of what others have told me is beautiful? Why can't my body be celebrated just the way it is? I am strong, healthy, fit and I like who I am. Why should I change who I am for the acceptance of what others believe to be beautiful? I was finally able to love myself for who I was and I was not going to go down the dark path of self deprivation and depreciation that I had been down so many times before. •Beauty, happiness and acceptance begins within and that is often the most difficult place to find it. Once we love ourselves for who we are, we can totally transform what it means to be happy. #confidentlybeautiful #missuniverse #beautybeyondsize #everybodyisbeatiful @missuniverse

A post shared by Siera Bearchell (@sierabearchell) on

Feb 22, 2017 at 5:54pm PST

During the 65th Miss Universe pageant, Bearchell earned fans for walking the stage with confidence despite not fitting the typical mold for a beauty queen, especially one competing in the world's biggest pageant.

But not everyone was impressed with Bearchell's message and among her critics was fellow Canadian beauty queen and Miss Universe 2005 Natalie Glebova.

Bad message for the youth?

Glebova conducted a Facebook live to reveal her Top 20 picks and while Bearchell made her cut for being laser-focused and determined, Glebova expressed her disappointment in Bearchell not "being at her best" for Miss Universe.

"This is Miss Universe pageant after all and if Siera had been this shape for all of the pageants that she's competed (in), I would have been absolutely all for it," she said. "But showing up at Miss Universe and not being at your best is confusing to me, because I know Siera and she is absolutely determined, she goes for her goals, and I'm just a little surprised that she didn't look her best and in her top form for Miss Universe."

Bearchell made it to the Top 9 in the competition and in her post-show blog entry, Glebova wrote, "I honestly think Canada could have won the crown, had she worked on her body and looked the way she did last year."

She continued, "In the end, as we see, it takes more to win, and I think Siera missed her chance. While her message of body confidence is a very important one to young women, what I think is even more important to tell the younger generation is that if you settle for what you have and don’t work to improve yourself, it can only get you so far, but with a bit more perseverance and determination, you can go all the way to the top!"

"The new generation is at a risk of feeling entitled and spoiled by getting ribbons for participation and trophies for coming in last, so if we don’t teach them that it takes hard work, sacrifice, discipline, setting goals, and never settling for less, we stand to have very unsatisfied and unfulfilled generation of young people, who never truly get to live their dream," Glebova concluded.

A focus on accomplishments

Bearchell, meanwhile, is maintaining her course.

"We live in a world that profits from our insecurities and tells us to be something we're not," she asserted. "We live in a society that tells us to focus on what we want to change."

Instead of feeding our insecurities, Bearchell said that we should ask, "What do we love, what do we like about ourselves?"

Bearchell is currently studying law and she participates in marathons. In addition, she is also the co-founder of Watered Down Apparel, a company that provides 30 days of clean water to impoverished areas for every item sold. — BM, GMA News