This Morning blasted by viewers for featuring plus sized model promoting obesity
AMERICAN model Tess Holliday has been targeted on social media and accused of championing obesity, after appearing on today's This Morning.
Tess Holliday featured on This Morning earlier today
Speaking to Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes live from Los Angeles, some viewers were outraged that she was suggesting it is okay to be overweight.
Holliday, 30, is a size 26, and is also pregnant. While she was promoting having a healthy body image, viewers were concerned that she was portraying a message that we don't have to eat healthily or exercise.
In turn, This Morning was also bombarded with tweets complaining about the interview.
Holliday explained that she is a "body positive activist". She found fame on social media when she created the #effyourbeautystandards hashtag on Instagram three years ago.
She appeared to wave aside the fact that medically she was categorised as obese stating that "health is not an indicator of size".
Eamonn and Ruth seemed partly to champion Tess' views
Why is Tess on this morning promoting her obese modelling!! It's NOT healthy neither is severely underweight modelling. Stop it women
— El (@_EllieOrmerod) May 20, 2016
Tess Holliday On Finding Your Body Confidence - This Morning
Tess Holliday spoke to the This Morning studio from LA
It's nice to see people like me in mainstream media, it gives others confidence
The model said: "A lot of people who are overweight live healthy and normal lives. I do believe our bodies are our business. If I'm unhealthy in 20 years that is my business. I am happy and that's all that matters."
She added: "It's nice to see people like me in mainstream media, it gives others confidence."
Holmes , 56, accused her of metaphorically putting her fingers in her ears and deliberately ignoring the facts about the state of her health. But he then went on to say that Holliday shouldn't have to be seen as a pioneer in the fashion world and that people of her size should fall in with what is considered the norm.
He said: "Surely it is about making fashion about every shape and size. Tall and small, fat and thin, wide and not so wide. It's as if it's a special club, and you're not allowed to be fashionable and wear nice clothes unless you're a certain shape. Shouldn't we be trying to bust that?"
These comments contributed to the backlash on Twitter, as well as the fact that This Morning were asking tweeters to use the hashtag #bigandbeautiful
Girl on #ThisMorning just said there's contradictory evidence as to whether being obese is harmful to health. Have a day off ya dafty!
— Jonathan Lewis (@JonLew94) May 20, 2016
Tess Holliday rose to fame when she became well-known on Instagram
Comments came pouring in such as: "How can an obese person be considered a role model? Why is this being promoted as a good thing? #thismorning #bigandbeautiful"
"Interesting discussion on #ThisMorning. Yes, no one should be discriminated for being obese BUT, it's unhealthy! We shouldn't promote that!?" posted another.
Others targeted Holliday more specifically, with one user posting: "Im all for body confidence, but how are people so delusional as to call @Tess_Holliday an inspiration?! Thats not healthy #thismorning"
Another wrote: "Yes I'm larger and have body hang ups, but I would never want to be like Tess Holliday. #thismorning"
A third typed: "@Tess_Holliday #bigandbeautiful she's not a role model...she's obese! I'm all for curvy women but she's massive @itvthismorning #thismorning"
This Morning airs on ITV1, weekdays at 10:30am.