Pregnant Woman Shares Videos of Her Very Pale Baby Bump. Then She’s Shocked by the Internet’s Reaction (Exclusive)

Hannah SacksTue, September 22, 2026 at 3:31 PM UTC

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Annielaurie GraceCredit: @poppyleafc; @ohmissphotography -

Annielaurie Grace, a mom of two, shared a TikTok video showing her naturally pale pregnant belly

The video went viral, with some commenters joking while others posted harsh, critical remarks about her appearance

Grace hopes to inspire others to embrace their pregnancy journeys despite societal beauty standards and online negativity

Annielaurie Grace has had a relatively normal pregnancy — which is why she was confused by the Internet’s shocked reaction to the pale skin tone of her belly.

The Ohio-based woman, 33, is currently pregnant with her third baby. Grace, who shares her two older kids with her husband, tells PEOPLE she found out she was pregnant again this past January and had always dreamed of having a big family.

“I had a suspicion [I was pregnant] and had been taking tests for a week straight,” says Grace. “And I was actually on my way to get Botox (for the first time ever) and took a test before I left and BAM. Pregnant. No Botox for me.”

Annielaurie GraceCredit: @ohmissphotography

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Grace says her pregnancy has been normal, except for a bout of hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) until she was about 22 to 24 weeks pregnant. She was in bed for most of the early part of her pregnancy, and had to get a couple of IVs.

But after the HG subsided, Grace decided to share her journey on TikTok on the Fourth of July. She’d been sharing on the social media app inconsistently, mostly just posting for her own fun.

“I just thought I had a cute-ish outfit for the pool and was finally feeling really good so I threw [the video] up for fun and was VERY shocked by the comments,” says Grace. “Those comments were fun and funny though!”

In the video, Grace wears a blue bikini with a red tank top over it. The tank top rode up a bit, showing off her very pale belly. Several commenters joked about her stomach, with one even asking, “Is your baby a Cullen perhaps?”

“I am naturally very, very pale,” explains Grace. “I mostly all my life have been a one-piece [swimsuit] wearer, so truthfully my belly has barely ever seen sun.”

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“I have sunmarks all over the rest of my body, so that is a factor for me,” she continues. “I also remember getting it burnt literally once as a teenager, and it was brutal. I stuck to a one-piece this summer every day, [except for] in the video I posted, because I’ve found with the ages of my kids it’s just way easier at the pool to have a one-piece on. You’re always getting tugged out or having to reach quickly, and it’s easier to not feel as exposed, in my opinion.”

Annielaurie GraceCredit: @poppyleafco

The pregnant mom of two says that her doctors have no concerns, and jokes that her dermatologist is happy.

“My derm is happy,” says Grace. “I did have to get a spot cut off my stomach early this spring (get your moles checked people!), and it came back totally normal.”

In her past pregnancies, Grace hasn’t avoided the sun like she did this time around. However, she thinks tanning in the sun could correlate to other side effects she experienced during pregnancy.

“I did tan my belly when I was pregnant with my now 2-year-old, and I did love it being tan, minus a few slight burns on the way,” she says. “But after I gave birth to her, it got darker, and it peeled and was just all together a little odd! That pregnancy, I gained the most stretch marks too, and I can’t help but always wonder if that contributed to some of them.”

Annielaurie GraceCredit: @poppyleafco

Grace was shocked by the Internet’s reaction to her videos, which garnered millions of views. Although she first found some funny, they quickly turned “nasty.”

“The reaction was a little crazy odd to me! It’s my normal skin tone, so maybe I am just so used to seeing it,” she says. “The funny comments I love, they crack me up. The last few videos have gotten some nasty comments that I believe TikTok started to take down. Some will appear and disappear before I can even read them!”

“I don’t love that society has such strict beauty standards that if you don’t meet them, people think it’s ok to comment nasty things or ‘ew’ or ‘gross.’ I think pregnancy is such a beautiful and difficult journey, so I hope someone else who feels like their bump isn’t perfectly tan finds peace in knowing they are not alone,” adds Grace.

“I have had some friends and people reach out asking if I’m okay, since some of the comments got bad [quickly]. And I genuinely am; none got under my skin. I mostly feel sad that people think that’s okay to say and that the Internet can become such a nasty place [with] people commenting things that are beyond inappropriate without consequence.”

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”