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Former Victoria’s Secret Model Shows How the “Perfect” Body Is All About the Angles

By Sara Barnes on August 5, 2026

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A post shared by Sara Sampaio (@sarasampaio)

Social media isn’t always reflective of real life. In many, if not most cases, Instagram shows a highlight reel, with people curating the best moments of themselves, down to how they look. Model and actor Sara Sampaio knows this all too well. As a former Victoria’s Secret Angel, she’s acutely aware of how angles and posture can change a body’s shape. With the right pose, one can look long and lean, while hunching shows “rolls,” something which society has deemed as unappealing. To prove the point, she made a video doing both of those things, and more.

In a video shared to Instagram and TikTok, Sampaio writes, “A little Friday PSA for all of you. Be kind to people and yourself and please stop commenting on people’s changing bodies.” She has a point; most of the time, it’s unnecessary to remark on how people look. Folks feel all sorts of ways about their appearance, and often, the emotions—both positive and negative—are based on feedback from other people. This affects self-esteem and can lead to destructive habits.

Sampaio has a big audience on social media, with over 8 million followers on Instagram alone. But her body-pose reel is by far her most viral, with 49.4 million views (and counting) on the platform. Although the video was first shot in 2021, a screen recording has recently made it to the popular subreddit Fauxmoi, where people have discussed its merits.

Some Redditors have criticism. “This is very funny to me because I know what she is trying to do, but the ‘after’ poses really don't make her body look that different from the before, lol,” a top comment says. “Yeah I'm sitting here like am I supposed to pretend she doesn't look amazing at every angle here,” someone else says in reply.

But just as there are critics, there are many commenters who praise Sampaio’s video. “Who’s to say that she doesn’t have a large audience of teenagers?” one person counters. “I’m 36 so the video only reinforces my body neutrality but kids/teens are being bombarded by pro skinny propaganda I can’t think that it’s a bad thing for them to see any body in a neutral way.”

“[My thoughts exactly],” a Redditor replies. “I also just think that even though she’s obviously thin and looks great that it’s important for teens to see that things like back rolls, the organ pooch, stomach rolls when sitting etc are normal because when I was a teen it was all thin celebs being berated and called fat in bikinis for having cellulite.”

It’s clear messaging is beneficial for many people, no matter their age. “Hell,” one person says, “I’m postmenopausal and still appreciate the reminder.”