Chlöe Used to Be “Ashamed” of Her Curves — Until Now
The cover star of Allure‘s June/July 2022 issue opens up about body image.
Chlöe Bailey is two people. No, we’re not confusing her with sister Halle Bailey — we’re talking about her on- and off-stage personas. “When I’m [not performing], I’m a bubbly, corny, clumsy person,” Chlöe tells Allure during her cover interview for the June/July Melanin Edit issue. “But when the lights turn on, something just happens. I’m somebody else.”
These dual personalities of Chlöe’s don’t share a whole lot — one’s reserved and sweet, one is unashamedly sensual with a forceful presence — but they do have one key thing in common: a positive body image. Though her on-stage persona might give off that unpenetrable boss vibe, Chlöe knows that even her alter ego can’t be perfect, and that’s OK. “We’re not all supposed to be perfect, like bad bitch and confident all the time,” she told Allure. “We have different layers, ebbs and flows to our lives. It would be completely unfair for me to portray myself to the world like I have no problems. Because I do.”
While growing up in the 2000s, Chlöe felt insecure about having “thick thighs and a butt” because “if someone on television told you that you had a big butt, they meant it as an insult.” That’s enough to make a whole generation of people feel highly insecure about their own bodies, and Chlöe is very much a part of that unfortunate pop-cultural result. “I was a little ashamed of my curves. I tried to hide them. It took a very, very long time.”
After years of working at it, though, she’s come to accept — nay, embrace — her body and all the things about it that society might deem imperfect. “Now my favorite thing about [my body] is my butt.” Considering her otherwordly twerking abilities, we can’t blame her.
