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Former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Claire Wolford responded to the body-shaming she received, saying that years ago, the comments would have sent her \u201cinto a spiral.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Wolford, who cheered for the Cowboys from 2020 to 2024 but is now an All-Star for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, which is a group of former Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders who are not officially a part of the team but instead work as fill-ins when needed and perform at pregame appearances, filled in for a cheerleader during the Thanksgiving game. She said it had been two years since she performed on the field, but said the \u201cnegative body shaming\u201d comments she saw on a video of her<\/a> needed to stop.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI just really hope people realize not the effect you had on me because I spent years of my life body shaming myself, over exercising, trying to make myself fit a certain mold, ugh, I\u2019m going to cry,\u201d Wolford said in a TikTok posted Saturday<\/a>. \u201cAnd I have healed from that and feel so much better about where I\u2019m at with body image and what God says about me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n She continued: \u201cBut you never know who are triggering and there are girls who see that and maybe are not the same, maybe bigger than me, smaller than me, whatever, and it causes them to stumble.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Several current Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders offered their support, writing in the comments that Wolford is a \u201crole model,\u201d \u201cinspiration,\u201d and thanking her for sharing \u201csuch an important message.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Elli DiGiovanni, another Dallas Cowboys cheerleader All-Star, said in a TikTok<\/a> that she considers herself in shape but \u201cthere is nothing harder\u201d than performing the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders\u2019 signature pregame performance to ACDC\u2019s \u201cThunderstruck.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt does not get easier,\u201d DiGiovanni said. \u201cFour years of doing it every game, practices, you are dancing at 110% every single time for four minutes straight and finishing with a full kickline and jump split.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n She continued, saying Wolford was asked to fill in for a current cheerleader because she is \u201cso talented\u201d and she \u201ccrushed\u201d the performance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cNo one realizes how much pressure we already put on ourselves when we\u2019re in that uniform,\u201d DiGiovanni said. \u201cI could cry right now. I\u2019m getting emotional.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n She said the cheerleaders are \u201cmeasured by every centimeter,\u201d and the famous Dallas Cowboys cheerleader uniform is made to fit each cheerleader\u2019s body.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThere is not a time that any one of us puts on that uniform and doesn\u2019t look in the mirror and question ourselves for a second,\u201d DiGiovanni said. \u201d\u2018Does my stomach look flat enough? Do my legs look good? Do I have rolls anywhere? Am I tan enough?\u2019 It\u2019s just always the self-question and self-doubt and judgment of ourselves that we already go through as young women who are trying to look perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It\u2019s not the first time Wolford has been open about body-shaming comments she\u2019s received. In a 2024 podcast episode<\/a>, she said she had seen past comments of people calling her \u201cobese\u201d or saying she wouldn\u2019t have made the squad years before, when the directors were stricter about the cheerleaders\u2019 weight. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Throughout the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders\u2019 history, the women have been expected to stay in shape. Director Kelli Finglass once said the ideal body shape<\/a> of a cheerleader is that of an old pin-up girl: 36 inches at the bust, 24 at the waist, and 36 at the hips. On Season 1 of Netflix<\/a>\u2019s \u201cAmerica\u2019s Sweethearts,\u201d a docuseries that follows the cheerleaders throughout a year, Victoria Kalina opened up about weigh-ins and binging and purging food while she was on the squad. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a binge to get that feel-good, that empty feeling filled again, but then game time comes, so then you just gotta get into those baby clothes, get into that baby uniform and that cycle just keeps going,\u201d Kalina said on \u201cAmerica\u2019s Sweethearts.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n