"20M people are viewing my body & debating over it"- Ilona Maher calls out viral post, Lindsey Vonn rallies behind in support

Lindsey Vonn recently supported Olympic medalist rugby player Ilona Maher and her views on body positivity. Maher recently called out a viral post for commenting on her body shape.

The 28-year-old rugby player shared the post on her Instagram profile, which claimed if the structure of Ilona's body was overweight or not. Maher laughed over the absurdity of the post and appealed to her followers to learn to love themselves and the beauty of their bodies.

Maher mentioned in the video,

"I think the greatest thing we can do is learn to love ourselves, learn to appreciate ourselves, and learn to find the beauty in our bodies. I recently had the pleasure of coming across this post. It has 35000 likes, 20 million views, 2.4K shares and 17000 comments. Wow, 20 million people are viewing my body and debating over it!"

Maher got support from many netizens, including Lindsey Vonn. The alpine ski racer commented on the post.

"Very well said!! We are all beautiful in our own way and I think you look amazing"

Screengrab of Lindsey Vonn's comment on Maher's post [Image Source : Ilona Maher's Instagram]

A couple of days ago, Maher's DWTS partner, Alan Bersten, appealed to his followers to vote for him as he became eligible for the Emmy nominations. For the unversed, Ilona Maher and Alan Bersten had participated in the 33rd season of the DWTS season held last year. The dancing duo finished as runners-up overall.

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When Ilona Maher shared her thoughts about being the face of women's rugby

Ilona Maher opens up about being the face of women's rugby [Image Source : Getty]

Ilona Maher has undoubtedly facelifted the sport of women's rugby with both her social media presence and her performance on the field. The 28-year-old rugby player shared about the gratitude, as well as her worries as a representative face of women's rugby.

In an interview with Ally Head of Marie Claire UK in early 2025, Maher remarked,

"Where I’ve become the face of the game, people expect so much out of me to continue growing it. I want to do it all to help, but at times I feel like I’m being rung dry because they want every little thing – which I understand, but I put my blood, sweat and tears into building this platform for myself and at times I feel used for it, which is never fun.”

Maher had contributed to creating history for Team USA when the women's rugby sevens team won the Olympic bronze medal at the Paris Olympics in 2024. This was the first medal for the USA in the history of the sport.

Edited by Tushhita Barua