Sharing bathroom selfies becomes the new B-town trend

‘Smelly’ pictures while answering nature’s call in ultra-luxurious bathrooms appear to have acquired a value of their own – at least, celebrities seem to be considering these momentous occasions worth documenting on camera and sharing with the world.

From Halle Berry to Madonna, Billie Eilish to Emilia Clarke, celebrities are airing their bathroom habits, some even with their undergarments down. Bollywood star and new mom Alia Bhatt has joined the list of these celebrities, having started a trend of bathroom selfies right here in India.

Alia shared two selfies from the bathroom with her followers. She looks lovely in a pink ensemble with her hair styled into a sleek ponytail. She is simply posing for the camera in the first image, and making a goofy face with her face resting on her hands in the second. Sharing the post, the actress wrote, “Sunday mornings are for finding some great light & aimlessly conducting a photoshoot in my bathroom. Happy Sunday,” followed by sun emoticons.

Though she did not go as far as Hollywood celebs, who snapped themselves while sitting on potties with a glass of champagne or wine in hand, who knows what will emerge from Indian celebs’ bathrooms next?

Private space

“Grooming is strictly a private business; no form of your personal business should be made public. Neither would anyone like to see someone on social media attending nature’s call while having breakfast, nor would you want your employer to find this on your profile,” feels Sonia Dubey Dewan, AICI CIP and founder of Indian School of Image Management. Secondly, it’s exceptionally unhygienic. “At one end, we like to sanitize everything we touch; on the other, taking beverages to sip in the washroom is dirty, unhealthy, and disgusting,” she points out.

Sonia Dubey Dewan

“As an etiquette expert, I would never teach this to anyone,” says Dewan, highlighting that most celebrities fail in fulfilling the default responsibility that comes with fame.

Disgustingly public

They say, “any publicity is good publicity.” A bathroom provides a sense of privacy, but this contrasts with your decision to share visuals of your private time. Once a celebrity pulls a stunt and gets a lot of eyeballs, it usually starts a trend. The more viewers, the more followers, the more endorsements, the more the money.

Dewan feels that although Alia’s latest selfie is fine, since it is she who is in focus, and no part of the washroom is in sight, if it sets off a trend to “match the level of Hollywood toilet pictures, it will have a disastrous and disgusting impact on the followers, the commoner.”

While Halle Berry clicked herself having a “party on the potty” when she hit two million followers on Instagram, the Crazy Ex Girlfriend creator Rachel Bloom captioned her bathroom photo: “My number one step for red carpet prep is number one.” Similarly, Madonna captioned her potty pic “I’m getting my sh** together… finally!!”

Inappropriate oversharing

Another modern-day mystery is why so many people seem to be eager to tell others how much time they spend in the restroom. “I think any kind of oversharing is not appropriate, and especially something as private as using a bathroom. I don’t know why people are getting into trends like this,” says Suneeta Sodhi Kanga, corporate grooming international business etiquette and communication, cross cultural sensitivity expert.

Suneeta Sodhi Kanga

On the other hand, talking of Charlie Theron’s photo of herself sitting in a plush bathroom in her fancy clothes with a glass of champagne, Suneeta feels it was aesthetic because she was not actually using the bathroom. “It was a very good-looking bathroom that she was posing in, and she was fully clad, and that looked very nice and aesthetic. It didn't look offending at all,” says Suneeta. She also finds the photo of Adrian Brody sitting in the middle of a lawn in what seems to be disposed of toilet, a funny picture.

However, she believes that many pictures of Hollywood celebrities with their pants / underwear down and their children in the room with their underwear down are deplorable. “Being an etiquette trainer, I would think it’s totally inappropriate,” says Suneeta.

Toilet shots

* Alia shared two selfies from the bathroom with her followers. She looks lovely in a pink ensemble with her hair styled into a sleek ponytail.

* Madonna captioned her potty pic, “I’m getting my sh** together ?????? finally!!”

* Eilish gave us not only a toilet selfie but also a bathroom mirror selfie in a photo dump.

* “Been waiting this s**t out,” Adrien Brody

* Esha Gupta took to Instagram to share a bathroom selfie in which she can be seen wearing a T-shirt and underwear.

* Katrina Kaif gets glammed up in her simple bathroom.