1:52
- style
- May 4, 2022
Gabrielle Union shares her self-esteem journey
The actress spoke with "GMA" about her journey toward building self-esteem.
Video by Brittany Berkowitz
In partnership with Dove, she is encouraging other parents to do the same self-care practices by sharing resources needed and important conversations to have with their teens.
Through new research commissioned by the personal care brand's Self-Esteem Project, it was revealed that teens are consuming toxic beauty advice in their social media feeds – and it is having a negative impact.
The study also revealed that 80% of girls would like their parents to talk to them about how to manage idealized beauty advice on social media, illuminating the need for help and resources.
Influenced by those statistics, Union suggests being completely active when it comes to children's social media engagement.
\"There's so many other ways that our children can be harmed, and especially our girls. And they also have to understand that the people that you're comparing yourself to, especially the people that you don't know, they don't look like what they present themselves to be,\" Union said.
She continued by reiterating the importance of explaining to kids that chasing an aesthetic doesn't make your dreams come true if you don't feel good about yourself.
\"We all want to present this fictionalized version of ourselves to social media, but I don't always think we understand the harmful effects of doing that,\" said Union. \"And you know, for our girls, they need to understand that it's not real. And it's okay to be exactly you because it will get you a lot further than pretending to be someone else and always feeling less than.\"
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