KEY POINTS

  • Thompson has been a star on Made in Chelsea for six years.
  • Her book, Body Positive, is set to be released in 2018.
  • She has over 1 million followers on Instagram.

From fights to breakups, we've seen much of Louise Thompson's life laid out for us on Bafta-winning reality series, Made in Chelsea. It's not clear just how scripted the show is, but fans have watched her tumultuous past relationships with co-stars Spencer Matthews and Alik Alfus.

With her personal trainer boyfriend, Ryan Libbey, much of last series was dedicated to the couples' commitment to health and wellness and the impact on Louise's life. As a result, the fact she's now releasing a book entitled Body Positive - a book "to inspire readers to make lasting changes, break the cycle of self-destructive habits and build a strong body and positive mind to be proud of"- is something we could have predicted.

Thompson commented: "Over the last 12 months I've learnt how to finally treat my body with the respect it deserves – the positive effect this has had on my physique, but most importantly, on my mental state, has been huge. I can't wait to share the secrets of my journey and show you how easy it can be to shake the negative cycles, eat well, shape a strong body and build confidence from the inside-out."

Despite being slightly predictable, 'Body Positive' has already offended and upset numerous bloggers and figures from the body image community. Set for release in May 18 next year, the cover was released earlier this week and led to numerous unsavoury reactions on Twitter.

Well-known body image ambassador and blogger Grace Victory wrote on Twitter that "naming your book "body positive" when you've done nada for marginalised bodies... is a reach and quite frankly offensive".

"People be really capitalising off of the body positive moment and I'm mad as hell."

Kitty Underhill is an "inbetweenie model", in her own words, and is part of 'The Body Confidence Revolution' in her social media bio- an online collective of ambassadors who aim to change how people perceive their own bodies and beauty standards and promote body acceptance and diversity.

She tells IBTimes UK: "So this is yet another example of how body positivity is being diluted, co-opted and sold back to us under the guise of empowerment. NOTHING about this book is body positive.

"Body positivity is about being accepting of your body and all bodies independent of societal norms, especially those which are marginalised (fat bodies in particular, but also disabled, trans bodies, the bodies of women of colour), not restricting your diet and exercising all the time in order to fit into societal ideals of what a 'good body' is."

Underhill argues that Thompson and big companies have missed the point of what body positivity is actually about.

"I'm tired of an amazing movement being completely ripped away from its origins. We wouldn't have body positivity if it weren't for brilliant fat women of colour and the fat activism of the 60s, and yet body positivity has become so diluted that it is centring slim white women, forgetting about the marginalised women that built up this movement in the first place.

"Body positivity is about uplifting and amplifying marginalised bodies and was meant to be a safe space for fat people in particular to celebrate their bodies, but now it is being used by companies and brands to make money from us because they know it's 'trendy' right now. What was an empowering movement is now just a buzzword, and this book is the perfect example of this."

How did the book make her and her fellow campaigners feel?

"Louise's book is a slap in the face to all the fat acceptance activists who pioneered body positivity."