‘Suits’ Star, Patrick J. Adams, Is Involved in a Social Media Body Shaming Incident Following the Royal Wedding

This past Saturday, Meghan Markle’s on screen husband in Suits, Patrick J. Adams, attended the royal wedding alongside his wife and Pretty Little Liars star, Troian Bellisario.

While in an airport waiting to go home after the magnificent royal wedding, Adams was told by a woman that she saw a picture of him and his wife from the royal wedding in a newspaper. The woman proceeded to comment on the picture, claiming that is was a “terrible” snapshot of the couple because the Suits star looked “chunky.”

Yesterday I posted a photo of a woman who did some casual body shaming of my wife and I in the airport. My intention was solely to put a face to the people who think that sort of glancing commentary is necessary, helpful or funny. Some of the comments on the post instead said I was being a bully and should have taken the “high road” (some also doubled down on the body shaming. Thumbs up guys!) I thought it over and agreed and took it down, not because I felt the woman was right or fair or undeserving of being called out but because any sense of being a bully or lashing out felt wrong. Now a number of familiar outlets with a lot of extra time on their hands are asking for comment and getting ready to publish the post in their hard hitting newspapers, magazines and blogs. So I’ll comment here. I’m no bully. What that woman said to us was offensive and unnecessary but I should have told her she was rude and out of line and left it at that. I’m sorry I didn’t. I was too shocked and annoyed and Canadian – so I avoided the confrontation. Again, I’m sorry. Now if you see the original post on any media outlet just know that they are choosing to take a relatively small indiscretion and make it worse. Not for me. Because I promise you once I hit post on this message it will be out of my mind forever. But it will make whatever bullying or embarrassment I might have caused for that woman far worse for a far wider audience. Now -this has obviously taken up far too much of our time and of the precious internet space that we need so much. Sorry about that. But let’s just finish with a quick summary. 1. Don’t talk shit about the way people look. You have no idea what’s going on with them and your commentary will always make their day worse not better. 2. If someone does. Don’t use the internet to settle scores. Tell them right to their face and in public that they’re part of the problem and not the solution. 3. Believe pretty much nothing you read in magazines. Good or bad. The machinery runs on misfortune and oversimplification. 4. Be cool to yourself and others at every opportunity. Life is too short for all of this. Thx for reading. Now back to our lives…

A post shared by Patrick Adams (@halfadams) on May 21, 2018 at 9:33am PDT

Adams stated that due to his Canadian roots, he tends to avoid direct confrontation, therefore instead of having a conversation with the woman, he opted for taking an unflattering picture of her once she fell asleep in the airport and posted the image on Instagram. This post resulted in immense backlash for Patrick, with numerous accusations of body shaming of the woman as revenge for her unkind comments.

Quickly after, Adams deleted the image and posted an apology Instagram instead. In his sincere apology, he stated that he should’ve taken the high road and that he regrets not speaking to the woman directly about the issue.

Patrick has learned from this mistake and listed the four takeaways he has gained from this controversial experience: “Don’t talk s— about the way people look. You have no idea what’s going on with them and your commentary will always make their day worse not better. 2. If someone does. Don’t use the internet to settle scores. Tell them right to their face and in public that they’re part of the problem and not the solution. 3. Believe pretty much nothing you read in magazines. Good or bad. The machinery runs on misfortune and oversimplification. 4. Be cool to yourself and others at every opportunity. Life is too short for all of this.”

We can definitely take a page out this Suits star’s book of lessons to remember that every word you type or say has an impact in this world, so make sure it’s respectful of others. Life is too short.