Ilona Maher Gets Candid About Gaining Body Confidence Through Sports

The content creator and rugby player shared a powerful anecdote at a recent panel event.

Ilona Maher | Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images

Once again, Ilona Maher is using her platform to inspire body confidence in women around the world. In a reel shared to Dove’s Instagram account on Thursday, Aug. 6, the professional rugby player and content creator opened up about how she grew up feeling less confident due to her strong body type—and what turned things around.

“I was always a bigger girl, I always had this frame, and I remember I never understood while I was playing these sports, I would go cry to my mom, ‘Mom, why do I look like this? I’m fitter than her, but she’s so much smaller than me,’ so I really fully never understood I think, and sports was the only way that made me realize my body was for a bigger purpose,” Maher stated.

She later added, “I say the same quote all the time, but sometimes we think of bodies as something just to be looked at and objectified, and I think that sports gives us a reason, a purpose, to show what we’re capable of ... There’s not one perfect body type, we’re all different and we all have such different body types, so like find what makes you feel alive and makes you understand your body so much more.”

The clip, which was captured during the brand’s Confidence Playbook panel as part of Flavor Flav’s SHE Weekend in July, was well-received by the athlete’s fans, many of whom chimed into the comments section with gratitude.

“I find you very COOL🔥🔥❤️😍,” one person wrote.

“Sounds like my life as a young girl in sports! Wish I had role models like you ❤️,” someone else admitted.

“She's such a beautiful powerhouse! Love you queen!” another fan applauded.

“You’re a legend girl. Go you 🙌👏,” an additional follower cheered.

“Love this and everything it stands for. I’m 51, the biggest body shape I’ve ever been but more powerful and lifting heavier than ever before ❤️,” someone else offered.

Maher, a Vermont native, has built up a massive following of 5.6 million followers on Instagram alone where she often shares uplifting content that encourages fans to rock what they’ve got with confidence. She also talked about her strength-focused mindset in a recent episode of House of Maher, the podcast she cohosts with her sisters, Olivia and Adrianna.

“I think my issue is that my body, I’m always thinking of it in terms of how well would it do on a field,” Maher shared. “So I actually don’t really mind that I’m bigger. I have problems with not being as fit or not being as fast, that’s where I have the issue because I want to function a certain way.”

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