Holly Willoughby has recalled how she was fat-shamed at the age of 17 by a modelling agency.
The 40-year-old made the revelation in her new book Reflections, where she said that despite being “tiny”, an Australian booker commented that ‘healthy eating while travelling” around the country had affected her size.
The This Morning presenter she was in “complete and utter shock” by the behaviour and had to “listen to her gut” to quit the glamorous career.
Opening up about the incident, Holly explained that as a teenager she did work experience at Model 1, an agency in London.
Eventually, after making "lots of tea”, an agent spotted her and suggested modelling after noticing her “cheeky smile”.
The star soon began going to casting calls across London and booking commercials.
While she described the experience as a “learning curve” that took her out of her comfort zone, she admitted that it boosted her confidence.
Holly made the decision to go travelling around Australia and met with an agent while she was in Sydney.
She said: "I hoped I'd do some modelling there and maybe live in Sydney for a bit. The booker was really nice.
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"Afterwards, 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.”
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This marked a turning point for the TV presenter, where she realised that “forcing her body to be a certain shape wasn't a good way to live” and decided to take a step back from modelling.
The star penned: “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.”
It was then that she decided to try out for presenting gigs, and went to a TV casting calls with her friends for a show called S Club TV.
Despite being what she called an “utterly rubbish presenter”, she bagged the role and the rest is history.
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