A biography for Tess Hollidayhasn’t been written yet.
“It's really hard to find boots for plus-size women because most of us have larger calves - not all of us, but most of us - so it's hard to find boots.”
“In the beginning I used to say, 'I'm healthy, my cholesterol's fine, I don't have high blood pressure, I don't have diabetes.' By telling people that you see a doctor, and telling people that you're healthy, it's perpetuating the abuse against bigger bodies and the mindset that we owe it to people to be healthy.”
“Don't get me started on PETA.”
“I think it frustrates me that so many people have bought into the idea of what we should look like instead of actually giving a crap about everyone around you.”
“I was bullied from fifth grade on. They started making fun of me because my mom was in a wheelchair, then they started making fun of me because I was poor and then it evolved to my size.”
“Learning to love yourself is not going to happen overnight - the first step is trying to be kinder and more patient with yourself, and I understand that it takes time.”
“People laugh in my face sometimes if they don't know who I am. When they find out that I model they're like, 'well what do you model?'”
“I'm OK with being called plus size, I'm OK with being called fat. If someone is shouting that I'm fat in the street in a derogatory way, then obviously I'm not OK with that, but I'm comfortable using the adjective fat to describe myself, because I am fat.”
“Casting plus size girls needs to be genuine.”
“I have created a life for myself that I only thought was literally a dream.”
“I feel like it's important to talk about my health, which is fine, and my size because there are young girls who see someone like me and can validate their own existence.”
“The plus-size fashion world is definitely built by women of color - 100 percent.”
“I prefer waist-length or cropped motorcycle jackets because I'm petite.”
“Obviously I probably have internalized fatphobia about myself and what the world has ingrained in us.”
“I have no friends from high school. That was probably the reason I ended up dropping out, and I dealt with that by eating.”
“Loving yourself is a journey, not a destination.”
“When I describe myself as fat to people, whether it's a driver, anywhere around the world, or a friend, and I'm like, 'Oh, it's just because I'm fat,' people are like, 'Don't say that about yourself.'”
“My style is very eclectic, definitely more '60s and '70s inspired.”
“I've never taken no for an answer.”
“I think that some of the biggest surprises I've had early on, actually to this day, are all the misconceptions about my body and my health. There are so many people who think that being a plus-size model, that there's something wrong with it, or that I must be unhealthy or that I'm promoting an unhealthy lifestyle.”