Entertainment
Holly Willoughby was body-shamed at age 17 by modelling agency: ‘It was a complete and utter shock’
Holly Willoughby was in ‘complete and utter shock’ over the experience (Picture: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Holly Willoughby has revealed she was bodyshamed as a teenager when taking a meeting with a modelling agency, which caused her to take a step back from the industry.
The This Morning presenter said she was in ‘complete and utter shock’ after hearing comments from the agency about her weight.
After an agent noticed her, Holly started going to casting calls and auditions across London.
The 40-year-old wrote in her book Reflections (via MailOnline): ‘I spoke to my London agency to see what she’d said, and the comment I got back was: “We’ll put her weight down to healthy eating while travelling.”
‘I just thought, wow. I could look in the mirror and see what I was seventeen and tiny… so to hear a comment like that was a complete and utter shock.’
She went on to say that the experience made her rethink everything about her chosen career.
Holly admitted she was afraid of the public ‘judging her’ for her new book (Picture: WireImage)
‘I saw for myself the brutal and, in my opinion, ugly side of what I’d always thought was the most beautiful place, and I realised then that it was no for me.’
She then decided to try for presenting gigs, going with her friends to casting calls for a TV show called S Club TV – which she landed.
Since, we’ve of course seen Holly on everything from This Morning to I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here so safe to say things definitely worked out.
Holly has revealed she was ‘terrified of being judged’ by the public over the details in her new book, as she gets personal.
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When asked why she felt the need to share her personal story now, Holly said: ‘I live in the public eye, there’s a lot of me out there, probably boring most people, but there’s definitely been pieces of me that I haven’t been ready to share yet.
‘Up until now I’ve probably been terrified of the reception of being brave enough to write this all down and put myself out there over [the] fear of being judged in some way, and it actually doesn’t matter, because it had to happen and I feel good about it.’
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MORE : Holly Willoughby admits she was ‘terrified of being judged’ by the public over details in new book
