Um, Mandi Vakili has issued the most painfully awkward apology after her breastfeeding rant

Mandi Vakili has apologised and issued a response after comments she made about women breastfeeding in public sparked a huge wave of backlash online.

The influencer, who is the sister of Love Island star Anna Vakili, came under fire after discussing breastfeeding on the sisters’ joint podcast, Sisters in the City.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Anna Vakili (@annavakili_)

Mandi, 34, said she feels “uncomfortable” when women breastfeed in public, particularly when their breast is exposed. She also admitted she can feel awkward if her dad is nearby while someone is breastfeeding.

The comments quickly caused a backlash, with Mandi initially responding to criticism in the comments and telling people who were offended by her opinion to “toughen up”.

She later clarified that she was not objecting to breastfeeding itself, but said she specifically felt uncomfortable when someone was breastfeeding without a cover and their breast was fully exposed while she was sitting nearby.

@stayathomemums And for those of you who haven’t seen this. Shaming women for breastfeeding in public because it makes you “uncomfortable” is a deeply uneducated opinion. A baby needs to eat. Breastfeeding is not something shameful, inappropriate, or sexual, it’s a completely normal way of feeding a child. Mothers shouldn’t have to hide away, cover up, or feel embarrassed just to make other people feel more comfortable. If seeing someone feed their baby makes you uncomfortable, that discomfort is yours to manage. It isn’t the mother’s responsibility to make herself smaller or less visible because someone else has decided that feeding her child is inappropriate. Women deserve to be able to feed their babies without being stared at, judged, shamed, or made to feel like they’re doing something wrong. Public spaces belong to mothers and babies too. #boycott #mandi ♬ original sound – stayathomemums

Now, Mandi has addressed the controversy directly and apologised for how her comments came across.

“I want to address the clip that has been going viral,” she began. “The first thing I want to say is please direct your anger towards me and not my co-host, my sister Anna. She didn’t say anything, I feel like she’s just suffering because of the comments I made.

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“I just want to make it clear that I never said – and I don’t even think – that a woman shouldn’t be able to breastfeed wherever she wants, whenever she wants, however she wants. I don’t even think that and I never said that. I said that whenever a woman is breastfeeding without a cover and an entire breast is exposed and I’m there in a public place, I get a little bit awkward and uncomfortable.

“But seeing how many women are genuinely affected and upset about my comments, I am really sorry, this really should not have been shared on a public platform. I had no idea that there is already so much stigma, judgement and battles that mums are going through surrounding this topic. So I need to educate myself, I need to do better. So I didn’t realise how much of a sensitive topic this already is for women and mums.”

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Mandi V (@mandi_vakili)

Mandi also addressed the response she received following the original clip, describing it as a “hate campaign”.

She claimed she had been subjected to extreme abuse, including being told to “kill herself”, being called a “paedophile” and being threatened with being attacked in the street.

While apologising for her original comments, Mandi said she felt the abuse directed towards her had gone too far.

The apology comes after the original podcast clip spread online, with the conversation around breastfeeding quickly becoming the focus of the backlash rather than Mandi’s other comments on the podcast.

She has now said she wants people to direct their criticism towards her rather than Anna, who she claims did not make the comments herself.

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Featured image credit via Instagram/YouTube