Remember Dani Mathers? She's the former Playboy Playmate who was busted last year after she took a photo in the locker room of her gym and made it go viral. Dani secretly photographed a nude elderly woman as she was changing clothes. Then she posted the picture on Snapchat with a message that if she had to see that woman, everyone else did too.
The aftermath of the body shaming photo
Initially, no one knew who the woman in Dani Mathers' body shaming photo was. Without knowing she was making fun of, it was reported that nothing could be done about the disgusting Snapchat "joke" made by the Playboy model.
She couldn't even claim to be hacked, as many celebrities do, because she posted a picture of her own reaction alongside the naked woman in the photo. She claimed that she meant only to send it to a friend and instead, posted the picture publicly so that her thousands of Snapchat followers could see it.
Atty for #playmate Dani Mathers tells EWN they hope to resolve #Bodyshaming case this a-m. No trial? All parties in chambers now. pic.twitter.com/tI6lAJLvN3
— Miriam Hernandez (@abc7miriam) May 24, 2017
After the post went viral, there was quite a bit of backlash from those who couldn't believe she or anyone else would post something so cruel. After all, many people, skinny and fat, join the gym in hopes of bettering their health.
For Mathers to make fun of someone for the way their body looks while they are at the gym trying to make it better was pretty awful.
Even before the identity of the woman in the photo was figured out, the LA Fitness gym she was working out in decided to ban Dani Mathers. The Snapchat drama went down in July and it wasn't until November that police charged Dani for her crime after identifying the elderly woman in the photo.
A 'no contest' plea and a conviction
Dani Mathers pleaded no contest for putting her former fellow gym member on blast via social media. Her attorney told the judge how incredibly sorry she was for making fun of someone who she deemed less attractive at the gym. Her attorney says that she never meant to hurt anyone.
That didn't mean Dani got off scott free though.
She could have been sentenced to actual jail time, as much as six months and a $1000 fine. In this case, which is one of the first times someone has been prosecuted for posting pictures on social media, she got off rather easy.
Dani Mathers was convicted for criminal invasion of privacy in the body shaming case but managed to avoid jail. Instead, she'll be on probation for three years and forced to clean up graffiti for 30 days. While there was no restitution given to her victim, Dani is forced to replace her $60 backpack because the judge felt that someone could see it and identify her.