Sarah Michelle Gellar blasted on Instagram for 'fat-shaming' Thanksgiving post

She had a long and fruitful career in movies like I Know What You Did Last Summer, Cruel Intentions and the Scooby Doo series, but despite being married to fellow 90s relic Freddie Prinze Jr, Sarah Michelle Gellar will forever be known and loved for her portrayal of the title character in the cult classic television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Of course, a lot's changed since the last episode of the show aired back in 2003, and Gellar is now 41 years old, with two kids, but she's made an unwelcome return to the spotlight after her Thanksgiving Instagram post went viral in the worst possible way. Posting a racy throwback selfie, the actress has been under fire for apparently 'fat-shaming'.

It all started when Gellar posted a photo of herself in lingerie ahead of Thanksgiving, and during a holiday in the spirit of eating quite a lot and sitting around like a couch potato, the actress went quite the other way when captioning: "I’m just going to pin these up all over my house as a reminder not to overeat on Thursday [Thanksgiving]."

At first, it didn't look as if people were that upset by the post, with her celebrity friends taking the time to engage with the post. Saved By the Bell star Tiffani Thiessen said: "Is it weird if I pin these pics of you in my house too?" while Grace from Will & Grace (Debra Messing) was more concise in saying: "Are you KIDDING ME!?!"

"Live your life girl!! Eat the delicious food!! Don't worry about tomorrow!" said one enthusiastic Instagram user who wasn't on an iconic 90s sitcom, but the rest of the comments were a great deal more... confrontational.

Credit: Getty

"I think she's great and obviously very beautiful, but the caption was pretty sad and disappointing but that's just my opinion and I'm pretty sure it was a joke," read one disparaging comment, but it was about to get a bit worse for Buffy from Buffy the Vampire Slayer as another commenter really went in.

"Wow. Really shocked that a woman in a position of influence and a mother would post this s**t. Is that where you place your value? On the size of your thighs? Or your protruding hip bones? Nothing positive comes from this post. Only narcissism and the (expletive) theory that women need to be skinny to be acceptable. You should remove this post. Immediate unfollow from me."

More people waded in to defend Gellar, but the damage was done; before too long, Sarah Michelle Gellar returned to social media to apologise for the post. "It’s come to my attention that some people think I was ‘fat shaming’ with this post. That could not be further from my intentions," she explained.

"I love Thanksgiving and unfortunately my eyes are often bigger than my stomach, and I tend to eat so much I make myself sick. This was a joking reminder to myself not to do that. I’m terribly sorry that people were offended by my attempt at humor. Any one that knows me, knows I would never intentionally ‘shame’ any one on any basis. I am a champion of all people."

All in all, it sounds like a whole lot of fuss over nothing, doesn't it?