Brooke Hogan is responding after critics accused her of posting a "thirst trap" while mourning her father, Hulk Hogan.
Last week, Brooke posted a beachside tribute to the late WWE wrestler, who died from a heart attack last July at age 71.
The post included several photos of Hulk on boats and by the ocean, along with a heartfelt caption about the memories they shared together. But all that a lot of people could focus on was the first image, which showed Brooke lying on the beach in a bikini.
"Needed some time with my thoughts, my daddy and the ocean he loved so much," Brooke wrote in the caption. "Every wave hit my heart like a memory that felt like it was yesterday. The waves carried the bass in his voice, the salt water felt like his hugs. The smell of the ocean smelled like so many days on the boat we spent together."
"I remember him whisking me across the surf like King Triton holding his Little Mermaid," she continued, before adding, "if I could breathe underwater, I'd spend forever under the sea if it meant being that much closer to him."
But rather than sending Brooke support, many criticized the bikini picture and questioned why she chose it for the tribute.
"Why is the first picture a thirst trap," one person wondered.
"First picture was totally necessary to remember your father, right?" another commented. "Jesus Christ."
Someone else mocked the tribute, writing, "I miss my daddy so much. And look, everyone. Here's a picture of my butt."
Brooke later responded directly to the backlash in a follow-up post.
Sharing edited images of women with various body types lying on the beach, Brooke asked whether people would have reacted differently if she looked different. "Would my post have been more sincere if THIS girl were at the beach mourning her dad?" she wrote alongside images of curvier and thinner figures before reposting the original picture. "But this girl is an attention whore?"
"Trust me, if I wanted to give you a thirst trap, you would have gotten one," she added in the caption. "If I were a surfer, swim instructor, heavier, thinner... would it be less shocking? I grew up in swimsuits. I understand that not a lot of the world gets that. But this is my home. This is me. This is my one of many days I grieved my dad."
"Shame on anyone for demonizing it," Brooke added. "I am human. My father was human. And you people have the nerve to act like you're experts on ANY topic or know anything about my experience with him? Even my closest family has no clue what I know and have experienced. And you come at me with your ignorant opinions and nasty comments hiding behind your screens?"
She then said, "Go back under your bridge, trolls."
It seems the post can only be viewed by Brooke's followers, but you can see a screenshot here.
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