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Identity

Tess Holliday Never Thought Her Modeling Career Would Be This Controversial

In the Season 2 premiere of "The Scarlet Letter Reports," Amanda Knox sits down with model Tess Holliday to hear how she fights harassment and spreads body positivity.
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Screengrab of Broadly video.

Tess Holliday has changed perceptions of beauty as a plus sized model, but her professional rise has been met by a parallel prejudice. In 2018, Holliday graced the cover of Cosmopolitan UK, making a milestone for her career and women of all sizes. But hatred has followed her as the public and critics have picked her image apart, insulting her on the basis of her body. The public, commentators, and even figures like Piers Morgan have levied insults and scrutiny at Holliday, claiming that the celebration of her beauty was unethical; that her size should not be accepted.

In the season two premiere of The Scarlet Letter Reports with Amanda Knox, Holliday opens up about how her “career has kind of been based on controversy by accident,” and how she coped with trauma she experienced in her youth. Holliday has been harassed for being poor, for having a disabled mother, for being fat. She struggled with her own self-perception until she found other people who supported body positivity, rejecting popular and regressive ideas about the way that people’s bodies should be. Holliday’s experimentation within this community online helped her to gain exposure, grow a following and, eventually, become one of the leading plus sized models in the world. “I never thought that I would have this life,” Holliday says. The 33-year-old model has made an unprecedented impact in the lives of thick, curvy, and fat women, showing the world how diverse beauty can be.

In this episode of The Scarlet Letter Reports, Holliday lays her experiences coping with the public’s mangled perception of her bare, opening up about her greatest vulnerabilities and how she continues to thrive, despite being subject to an overwhelming amount of hate, by returning to her roots.