Dear Cardi B, Thank you for showing off your untoned tummy at the Billboard Music Awards | Elizabeth Wellington

Admittedly, I wasn’t feeling Cardi B in the beginning.

Really, girl? Bloody shoes! How could you desecrate such Christian Louboutin iconic brand, I thought to myself. (I did this, of course, while hypocritically humming “Bodak Yellow.”)

But she grew on me. She was unabashed. She doesn’t hide behind the old-fashioned roles of femininity. She snorts for crying out loud. She makes money moves.

But then I peeped her on Wednesday night’s Billboard Music Awards and I was blown away because of her just-had-a baby-tummy that she boldly showed off in a Moschino banana- (Bodak?) yellow two-piece midriff top and matching high-slit, ankle-length skirt that gave us all of her leg.

Let’s be clear. Cardi, who will headline this year’s Made in America festival, is a small woman. And although her daughter Kulture Kiari Cephus — with husband Offset from trap trio Migos — is just nine months old, home girl still has the outlines of a six-pack. But her tummy is not completely toned either. It’s soft. There are wrinkles and slightly discolored imperfections. I can almost picture her stretch marks and I love it.

You go, girl! Show it off!

We’re inundated with photos of these post-baby celebrity bodies that give us the illusion of perfection, of stomachs and thighs that bounce back to pre-birth tautness (with no mention of a plastic surgeon). Even if you haven’t had a baby, and your weight has fluctuated, you know that’s not how skin works. But celebrities don’t show this body in transition.

This red carpet move is more proof that Cardi is not afraid to show us that she’s a work in progress.

That’s not to say Cardi hasn’t had plastic surgery. She’s publicly admitted to having butt implants and she admitted to having her breasts redone after Kulture was born. While she said she didn’t have lipo three months after her daughter was born, she didn’t comment after Wednesday night’s tummy reveal.

The beauty is Cardi is choosing how she wants to look. If she wants her breasts done, fine. But her tummy? That’s on her terms. And I can dig it. That’s freedom.

Cardi B is one of those people that I often wish I had the guts to be like. It’s not because she looks like a doll, despite those spidery eyelashes. Cardi says what’s on her mind no matter how ratchet it is. She doesn’t care about what’s acceptable. She drops bombs. Cardi lets verbal explosions blow up exactly where they land.

But it’s one thing to blast your truth. It’s another thing to show it off on the red carpet. It’s hard for women to live in our imperfect bodies, even on a secluded beach, whether we are a size 2 or 22. It’s even more impossible when we are in the red carpet spotlight.

So Cardi: Here’s to you. Thanks for giving us that tummy in what appears to be its authentic, unaltered, post-baby way. Whether we had a baby or are trying to get back to ourselves after too many wine and cheese dinners, the message is simple: Keep working, there is a light at the end of the tunnel of self-acceptance. And just because we do the work doesn’t mean we shouldn’t enjoy the in-between moments, whether we are on the red carpet or on our couch.