'Isipin mo nalang binuntis ka': Donnalyn Bartolome's statement about pregnancy sparks controversy anew
Social media personality Donnalyn Bartolome strikes again with yet another controversial remark, this time about pregnancy.
A screenshot of Bartolome's now-deleted Feb. 6 Facebook post read, "Maganda talaga pag binuntis. Kidding aside, maganda pa din kayo mommies."
A netizen, then, commented: "Grabe sobrang ganda nyo po. Nakakainsecure po talaga, lalo pag tumitingin na ko sa salamin after birth."
Bartolome told the netizen: "isipin mo nalang binuntis ka.. sobrang ganda mo siguro. Ako walang bumubuntis.. parang talo moko sa ganda wag ka na ma-insecure dyan haaa. I'm sure maganda ka smile ka na yiiie." (Just think that you got impregnated, maybe because you're so beautiful. Nobody impregnates me, it seems you're more beautiful than me. Don't get insecure, okay? I'm sure you're beautiful, so smile.)
Her reply, however, didn't sit well with a number of netizens.
"Will somebody please tell her to think before she speak," one netizen wrote in the comments section of the Philippine STAR's post.
Another netizen lamented how Donnalyn seemingly forgot about those who get impregnated only to be left as single mothers.
"Hindi ba nya alam na maraming binuntis pero hindi pinanindigan? Tinakasan pa nga at tinataguan," the netizen said.
"[H]indi sapat yung nabuntisan lang dahil maganda ang babae. At paano naman yung mga binuntis na sabihin na nating hindi kagandahan?"
The Commission on Population (PopCom) have since sounded the alarm over teenage pregnancies in the country, even calling it a national social emergency.
PopCom, citing data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, said there 2,113 births from girls aged 10 to 14 were recorded in 2020.
According to the Department of Health, there were also 2,299 girls aged 10 to 14 who gave birth in 2021.
Others, meanwhile, came to Donnalyn's defense, noting she was just trying to comfort the netizen.
"Maybe she just can't find the right words to say just to console that woman na nawalan ng self esteem," one user said.
"Wrong choice of words pero kung iintindihin mo naman yung situation, gusto lang naman ni Donna i'cheer up yung mommy," another user said. "Tinake nyo lang talaga as negative yun."
Donnalyn last made the headlines in January, when she questioned why people were upset about getting back to work, triggering "toxic positivity" claims. She has since apologized for her post deemed as "privileged" and "insensitive."
Prior to that blunder, she ruffled the feathers of netizens in August 2022 for her "kanto" themed birthday party in July which they deemed as "poverty porn."
That same year, she also trended for the wrong reasons for posing as a toddler during her 28th birthday shoot, which netizens deemed as romanticizing and promoting pedophilia.