Plus-sized model Tess Holliday joined the Loose Women panel this afternoon to spread her message of body positivity.
The curvy model was a ray of sunshine as she appeared on screen in a bright yellow T-shirt dress.
The 32 year old weighs 20st 6lb and wears a UK dress size 26.
At a height of 5ft 5in she is clinically obese - but that doesn't stop her from loving her body and leading an active life.
"I am fat but that's OK because that's how I identify myself and I want to take the stigma out of the
word so that people don't feel uncomfortable saying it," she said.
Tess explained that her weight gain started when she was 10 years old and her mother was shot by her partner in the head twice.
"She was left for dead and so I didn't really know how to deal with that," she admitted.
"I was 10 years old and my family was looking after me while my mum was fighting for her life and learning how to walk and talk again.
"I turned to food to kind of cope with my feelings but also I hit puberty around that age and all of a sudden I was 11 years old and I had big breasts and a big bum and I felt really uncomfortable."
The turning point for Tess came when she started to model and promote her body positive message on social media.
She gained a huge following and now has 1.5m fans on Instagram.
And Tess denied that promoting her size 26 body is unhelathy.
"I think it's quite unfair for people to think that because I'm existing in this body that means I'm telling people to be fat and gain weight," she said.
"What I'm really saying is this is how I am in my body, I love my body and you should love your body as you are."
No comments :
Post a Comment