INDIANAPOLIS – An Indiana student’s response to people body-shaming her prom pictures is going viral with thousands of people supporting her.
Madison Haulter is a senior at Pike High School. She met her boyfriend Tre Booker at school, and they had their one-year anniversary on April 23. Her school’s prom was on April 29, and Madison found a pink sequin dress to wear. “When I ordered the dress online, I wasn’t even thinking, ‘What will other people think of this? Will I stand out?'” Madison told WXIN.
The couple took pictures together and tweeted them out before the big dance.
Madison said that when she got home on Saturday night, she was shocked to see some people made negative comments about her photos. Some people asked Tre if he lost a bet, and one person even tweeted, “Wow he loves you even tho you’re fat.”
Instead of dropping to their level, Madison responded with one simple statement, “Don’t see how people can be rude to people they don’t even know.”
After calling attention to the body-shamers, many people have reached out to Madison, applauding her and assuring her to not listen to the haters.
Since then, Madison has gotten thousands of retweets and likes for her response.
Madison is shocked by all of the attention she’s getting. “This is the craziest thing ever. I never expected this to happen. I just thought my friends would reply and that’s it.”
Madison hopes her message will make people think twice before they decide to say something mean and bully others. “I just want people to realize the power behind their words. You can’t sit behind a computer screen and say anything you want because your words can have a big affect on other people.”
Madison said she is happy to be inspiring others through her experience. “I’ve had a lot curvy girls DM me and say, ‘Wow you’re inspiring me to have more confidence in my own skin.’ And I just want people to realize that you can be curvy and still be beautiful. And you can be an interracial couple and still be beautiful.”
Madison’s father Tom is very proud of his daughter’s message to spread love, not hate. “What’s exciting is the number of people responding to her and Tre with positive comments and people thanking them for inspiring them. Really proud of these two,” Tom said. “Tre is a young man full of integrity with a genuinely good heart and treats her like a queen. They both have good heads on their shoulders, and it’s fun watching them grow together. That’s all her mother and I could ask for concerning our daughter’s relationship.”
Madison will attend Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis in the fall, and she plans to major in psychology. Her dream is to become a school counselor. Tre will enter the 11-month jump start program at Ivy Tech to earn his associate’s degree.
