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Gresham woman's texts from fat-shaming ex-boyfriend go viral

"I like the way I look now. I'm 5'2" 120 pounds. I'm proud of my body!"

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GRESHAM, Ore. -- A Gresham woman is getting a lot of support on social media after she posted texts from her ex-boyfriend criticizing her body.

“All I can say is don't settle, it's not worth it,” said Shelby Johnson, 23.

Johnson said in late March her ex-boyfriend sent her a series of text messages telling her that she needed to lose weight and that it appeared she was getting a “beer gut.”

“He wrote, ‘the main issue is that your gut might stick out more than mine, and that's just weird,” said Johnson, reading one of the texts from her ex, whom Johnson declined to identify.

Johnson, who has openly shared photos of herself on social media wearing just her underwear, said for years she struggled to gain weight.

“I like the way I look now,” she said. “I’m 5’2” 120 pounds—I’m proud of my body!”

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Johnson leaned on friends and family after the text exchange.

“I did a little bit of crying, a little bit of talking,” she said.

Then Johnson did a little posting on Twitter. She captured screen grabs of the text exchange without identifying her ex, and tweeted them.

“When I woke up I realized oh—oh my gosh, I went viral.”

As of Monday night, more than 40,000 people had liked Johnson’s tweet.

“I think the biggest issue is it's something a lot of girls deal with,” she said of her experience striking a chord.

Johnson said her ex eventually apologized for sending the texts, when he saw her tweet. She broke up with him, anyway.

“It saddens me and worries me that he needed me to go viral on Twitter to really see the error of his ways,” said Johnson.

Johnson hoped her story would inspire and empower other women in similar situations. She also hoped her ex and others like him, would learn from their mistakes.

“You know, I’m not going to teach a man how to be a man,” said Johnson. “I'm not going to teach him how to be a partner. It's not my job.”

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