Tess Holliday

“It's refreshing and weird when your kids get older and they're able to tell you how they feel and what they want.”

“If I have the opportunity, a massage or facial is a great way to take a little 'me time.'”

“The real issue that I have is the erasure people are trying to do with my very valid feelings in regard to how plus-size and fat people are treated in fashion. The way that people just kind of overlook us and pretend that, you know, we don't have style, that we aren't trendy or fashionable. It's dehumanizing.”

“All I want is to feel good and really own my body, and that's what I tried to create.”

“I've noticed that a lot of people who criticize me are from the U.K. - both in the press and on social media. Since I've been here, I've gotten a lot of stares on the street, but in the States, people always come up to me and say, 'I love your hair' or 'I love your dress, you're so cute.' Here, people just look at me like I'm a crazy person.”

“I was raised to believe that sex was shameful, that you should only have sex when you're married. I'm so glad that I didn't listen to that advice.”

“I would really love to work with major photographers who haven't featured plus-size models before.”

“Ultimately, I don't really want to see the media portraying curvier and fatter bodies being the norm, I want to see a variety of bodies of all shapes, sizes, colors, and orientations, all of the time just like we do in reality.”

“I'm a normal person, but people see me as this person who's not really real, almost like I don't have feelings. They think they can treat me any way they want to.”

“I mean, if people still want to hire my 34-year-old fat butt for campaigns and let me be myself then I'm all for it.”

“Self-love is for everyone and we all need it!”

“Many companies and publications don't understand what it means to be body positive or what it means to be plus-size. They're just trying to capitalize on the term because it's a hot topic.”

“I think people think how I got work came easy. People assume that I was an overnight sensation, because they're just now hearing about me, or that everything happened very quickly.”

“Why would I want to walk the runway for a brand to be their token plus-size girl when they're not even making my size?”

“What shaped my perception about my body and myself was finding better clothes - that's what changed my world.”

“I didn't realize how important it was to exfoliate and moisturize the days leading up to getting a spray tan.”

“I think it's really important for all young girls to see themselves represented in fashion so they don't feel alone in the world.”

“I don't understand why it's not okay to be plus-size. I don't know why people hate that phrase. Many models have built their careers as plus-size women and then suddenly don't want to be called that anymore. But you're still cashing checks from plus-size designers.”

“Plus-size is a term that's never been used in hate; no one has ever used it in a negative way. The industry has always used it to help us identify where to shop.”

“When you become an adult and you have a choice of who to have in your life, if someone's hurting you and making you feel bad, then they shouldn't be in your life, even if it's a family member.”