At 5ft 8ins and weighing just 7-and-a-half stones, Charli Howard, 23, was told by her modelling agency that she was ‘too big,’ ‘out of shape’ and ‘could lose an inch off [her] hips’ – despite only being a size 6.
Open letters are a brilliant way of telling the people who have wronged you about themselves, in a way that raises great awareness to the issue you’re addressing.
Charli gave a major ‘FUCK YOU’ to the modelling agency (which she did not name) in her open letter on Facebook saying she ‘refused to feel ashamed and upset on a daily basis for not meeting ridiculous, unobtainable beauty standards.’
She wrote: ‘I will no longer allow you to dictate to me what’s wrong with my looks and what I need to change in order to be “beautiful”.’
Charli has been ‘blown away’ by the support she’s received from thousands of people on Facebook who have supported the model for leaving the agency. She has also received backing from other agencies and photographers and has promised to keep modelling, but on her own terms.
The best part of the open letter was when she acknowledged that her ‘mental and physical health is of more importance than a number on a scale’ and if an agency wishes to accept her for herself and the ‘woman’ she’s become then they can ‘give her a call.’
Until then, she writes ‘I’m off to Nandos.’
Good for her.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.