Tess Holliday is 5'4, a size 22, and 250 pounds. She is a single mom, she is the victim of bullying, and she is a successful model.
It will never cease to amaze me how much people feel like they have the right to decide what any woman — or man — should look like.
This is why it's so important for women to take a stand, like when moms show off their stretch marks with pride or when this fitness instructor shut down her bullies.
Though Tess is finding success with modeling and has 642,000 loyal followers on Instagram, she is still regularly bullied and called "too fat."
"Every time you open a magazine it tends to be a certain size, skin color, and hair color… where does that leave the rest of us?" Tess asked DailyMail.
"We’re so obsessed with figures because there’s a multimillion dollar diet industry out there and we’ve been taught that unless you look a certain way then you don’t matter, which just isn’t true," she continued.
Tess is an inspiration to women everywhere. See how she shut down her bullies below.
SHARE if you love yourself just the way you are!
Meet Tess Holliday and her rocking bod.
Tess is open about the fact that she is 5'4, a size 22, and about 250 pounds.
Though Tess has no problems with how she looks, amongst her 642,000 Instagram followers, she has got some major bullies.
Fortunately, Tess ain't afraid of them, either.
Yep, that's right. Tess is a model with Milk Model Management.
While she is confident now, Tess admits to being bullied in high school and struggling to find supportive friends. "For a while I had a group of friends that weren’t so great and at the time I didn’t feel great about myself but then I realized that they were constantly making fun of me, making jokes about my body and making me feel bad about myself," she told DailyMail.
"I think it’s important that if you’re unhappy with yourself and unhappy with your body to look at the people you surround yourself with and make sure they are supportive and love and care about you for the right reasons."
We're glad Tess has found her way — just take a look at how beautifully she photographs!
After all, when you can pull off a look like this — who cares what size you are?!
Please SHARE this inspiring model's story with your friends and family!
