Playboy model Dani Mathers charged in body shaming case
Dani Mathers, the former Playboy Playmate who was the 2015 Playmate of the Year, was charged with a misdemeanor Invasion of Privacy by Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer.
On July 14 of this year Mathers posted a photo of a 70-year old woman who was nude in an L.A. Fitness gym with the message, “If I can’t unsee than you can’t either.” Mathers claimed she meant to send the Snapchat photo as a private message, but it was sent out to all of her followers, which was in the hundreds of thousands. She has since privatized some of her social media accounts, apologizing for the Snapchat incident.
In a video posted to Snapchat (now on YouTube) Mathers said, “That was absolutely wrong and not what I meant to do.I have chosen to do what I do for a living because I love the female body and that body shaming is wrong and that’s not what I’m about. That’s not the type of person that I am.” She added, “That photo was taken to be part of a personal conversation with a girlfriend and because I’m new to Snapchat I really didn’t realize that I had posted it and that was a huge mistake.”
She finished the message asking for forgiveness, saying, “I know that I’ve upset a lot of people out there, but please, please believe me when I say it’s not the type of person I am. I have never done this before and I will never do it again. You have my word.”
(City of Los Angeles)
In a statement to the media City Attorney Mike Feuer said, “Body shaming is humiliating, with often painful, long-term consequences. It mocks and stigmatizes its victims, tearing down self-respect and perpetuating the harmful idea that our unique physical appearances should be compared to air-brushed notions of ‘perfect.’ What really matters is our character and humanity,” said Feuer. “While body-shaming, in itself, is not a crime, there are circumstances in which invading one’s privacy to accomplish it can be. And we shouldn’t tolerate that.”
Mathers, 29, is charged with one count of invasion of privacy (PC 647(j)(3)(A). If convicted, she could face up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. Arraignment is scheduled for November 28 in Department 48 of Los Angeles Superior Court.
The City Attorney also confirmed that the victim of the body shaming incident has been found, but her identity is being withheld from the media. The woman, who is in her 70s, is reportedly willing to help with the prosecution.
Playboy Enterprises, Inc has distanced itself from Mathers, and she’s been fired from her job on SiriusXM Playboy. L.A. Fitness, who owns the gym were the incident took place, revoked Mathers’ membership at all their locations.
Top photo of Danielle “Dani” Mathers from YouTube video
Baltimore Post-Examiner is run by a creative cadre of dedicated journalists – some who worked at the Washington Post, Baltimore Examiner and other regional and national publications. It’s the Post-Examiner because we love the play on the word “Post” but we are also hoping to answer that question: What’s next after newspapers? We see a lot of websites come and go – and many simply are not making it for various reasons. We have been a model of success since we launched in 2012 with “a little bit of everything” and we aim to continue to break that cycle of websites coming and going.