![tess-holliday](https://littlethings.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/36147679_872572286270999_6113187657188114432_n.jpg)
Tess Holliday is a 34-year-old model, body positive activist, and mom. She's always been very vocal about her experience as a plus-size model, and she encourages women of all shapes and sizes to love their bodies.
Tess was young when she gave birth to her first child. She was just 20 years old when she welcomed her son, Rylee, to the world. In 2012, Tess met Nick Holliday on Tumblr. Two years later, Nick and Tess got engaged. They secretly got married on July 5, 2015. In June 2016, Tess and Nick welcomed their first child together, a son named Bowie.
Since becoming a mom for the second time, Tess has been able to reflect on her experience with motherhood. In a recent Instagram post, Tess opened up about her take on the concept of "beach bodies." In her moving post, she tried to encourage other moms to feel positive about their own bodies.
Tess Holliday is a plus-size model with a huge social media following. The 34-year-old has 1.9 million followers on Instagram. Her movement, "Eff your beauty standards," has 426,000 Instagram followers.
Although Tess used to feel self-conscious about her body, she's now proud of the way she looks. In fact, she's a body positive activist who spends a ton of her time encouraging other women to love themselves and their bodies.
Tess doesn't shy away from wearing swimsuits or showing off her skin — but she hasn't always felt so confident. Tess recognizes that many women feel uncomfortable wearing bathing suits in public, and she wants to encourage them to do it anyway!
Tess recently took to Instagram to share her thoughts on "beach bodies." She wrote about the ways in which women are constantly told their bodies don't fit into the "beach body" standard, and how that can be detrimental to both mothers and children.
She shared a picture in the pool with her younger son and wrote:
“Bowie will never know what it’s like to have a mom who doesn’t love her body. Mind-blowing huh?”
“I’ve been thinking about this because it’s summer and literally every activity is outside/in the heat, and we have the added pressure of people using toxic diet culture language like ‘beach bodies’.”
“I’ve been a Mom for thirteen years, and early on with my oldest son, there were countless moments I missed out on. Why? Because I was too afraid to put a bathing suit on. Being seen in public somewhere that I couldn’t hide my fat body in a cardigan was my worst nightmare.”
“I don’t have any photos of me & Rylee at the beach or playing in the pool because I didn’t own a bathing suit from the ages of 13-24. Even though it took me longer than I wished, I have amazing memories like this with Bowie and made up for lost time with my oldest too.”
“Don’t let fear keep you from enjoying your life, you deserve beautiful experiences, and beautiful photographs to remember them by! #effyourbeautystandards #beachbody.”
Tess' fans absolutely loved what she said about "beach bodies," and a lot of women really took her advice to heart.
One woman said: "Omg that caption has hit me hard. My son loves swimming but I don't take him. I can't even bear the thought of it. I need to work on this!!"
Another mother wrote: "I felt the same with my daughter, always covering up… [it's] roasting and would never show my arms, [wear] cover ups when sunbathing on holiday and never get in the pool… I’m still not fully there yet, but I’m totally on my way! You are beautiful and an inspiration to everyone who is like me xxx ."
A third woman said: "Thank you for being so open & vulnerable with your perspective on this! As a mom-to-be it really, REALLY resonates with me. Keep on inspirin' ."
Tess is such an inspiration. Her message that "every body is a beach body" resonates with so many women all over the world.