In this episode of Sessions for the Soul, we unpack the deeply unsettling truths behind America’s Next Top Model after watching the documentary Reality Check. What once felt like harmless reality TV reveals itself as a breeding ground for body shaming, exploitation, emotional abuse, and systemic harm — especially for young, impressionable women.

We reflect on watching ANTM as children and how its messaging around beauty standards, weight, confidence, and worth quietly shaped an entire generation. From public weigh-ins and forced body modifications to manipulative editing, coerced storylines, and blurred lines around consent, we examine how “good TV” came at a devastating cost.

This conversation explores how women’s bodies are treated like trends, how the industry disguises abuse as “preparation,” and why accountability still feels painfully absent. We also discuss how these patterns continue today — and what it means to heal from internalized messaging around beauty, worth, and self-image.

Content warning: This episode includes discussions of body image, disordered eating, emotional abuse, and sexual exploitation.

✨ If you grew up watching this show and felt “off” about it — you’re not imagining it.

Keywords:

America’s Next Top Model documentary, reality TV trauma, body image healing, beauty standards, media literacy, women’s bodies, modeling industry abuse, Tyra Banks controversy, internalized misogyny, diet culture

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