Instagram/@being_kelsey
Kelsey Parker, widow of Tom Parker, a member of The Wanted, was the one who delivered the poignant video message. The video was so effective in communicating women’s strength and solidarity that it could straight away bring her nearer to her audience, hence, resulting in the sharing of similar experiences and her being supported.
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Kelsey Parker has most definitely by her latest act reminded us all of the impact that becoming one can make. In a video she posted, she acknowledged that the message was imparted to her, which she termed as a wave of women’s strength. Her words were particularly directed at those, who feel feeble and unconfident. Kelsey Parker, the camera was her audience stated: ‘We are so much more powerful than we often are allowed to feel.’ She was talking of the strength that women have been through, she mentioned the miracle of childbirth, and the process of recuperation that comes after each and every trial. Moreover, she made it clear that she was very much aware of the ceiling that is common among women. ‘At times it seems like… the world conspires against us women and strives to silence our power. They try to make us small and blind us to the fact that we are.’
The core of her message was a calling for unity among women. ‘You are not weak, you are not small. You are powerful and you are not alone. We are the strong ones together, we are the capable ones together and we are the unstoppable ones together.’ She made it very clear to the public that women should continue to support each other and that tagging other strong women in a post would actually be a sign of support for somebody going through a tough time. The video was drawn to a close with a shot of little Aurelia, Kelsey’s daughter, coming over to her and saying goodbye.
The likes and comments came in very quickly and were all very emotional. The message’s relevance to the current day was pointed out by a number of users. ‘Wise words from Kels really needed to hear this today,’ a comment from one user very nicely summed up the sentiments of many others who thanked Parker for the uplifting words. A comment that brought to the fore the solidarity aspect and said, ‘Women supporting Women… we need this everyday xx,’ also received quite a few likes.
Some comments drew the relation between Parker’s overall message and her specific grief of husband’s death that has been well-documented, and she is also raising their two children together. ‘The strongest person i know,’ one follower wrote tagging Parker. Another comment shared the painful experience of ‘the paperwork following a death,’ to which Parker herself responded that it’s ‘really the worst!!’ This exchange shows that her message of resilience is intimately related to her personal reality, thus, her words are perceived as genuine and real.
Perhaps the most audacious response took the power of words from Parker’s exhortation and thanked her. ‘Thank you Kelsey. I’m not going to be silenced,’ the user proclaimed. ‘If I trust in my gut’s wisdom and it says so… I won’t stop making noise until you do!’ This person’s reply indicates that Parker’s video was not only a source of motivation but it also resonated with a stream of frustration and a wish to have a loud voice.
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Kelsey Parker has been struggling with tremendous public and private pressure since her husband Tom died of brain cancer in 2022. On the other hand, she has publicly taken the role of the person who talks about loss, motherhood, and finding ways to go on. Nevertheless, this latest post is somewhat different from the previous ones but still on the same level of loss from personal to societal and from empowering one universal theme to another. It is less about suffering from loss and more about asserting one’s natural strength – a message that was surely communicated loud and clear. She might have thought that the universe was sending her a ‘wave’ of strength as she turned her personal struggle into a collective one, backed up by the fact that no one has to suffer in silence. The lively and active conversation in the comments section serves as a strong indicator that the message was not just heard but also actively embraced. Her journey of healing has also been supported by a new puppy after a tragic pregnancy loss.
