Tess Holliday hopes anorexia revelation helps others

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

Plus-size model and body positivity activist Tess Holliday is talking about her disordered eating.

Holliday recently went public with a diagnosis of anorexia she said she has received from a professional.

Given her weight and her focus on embracing curves, Holliday told “Good Morning America” not everyone has welcomed her revelation.

“I’ve had a lot of messages from folks that are anorexic that are livid and angry because they feel like I’m lying,” she said. “I am plus size, but advocating for diversity and larger bodies, and so I think for people hearing me say I’m anorexic was really jarring and hard and confusing.”

But Holliday says she has had an eating disorder for years.

Earlier this month she tweeted “I’m anorexic & in recovery. I’m not ashamed to say it out loud anymore.”

“I’m the result of a culture that celebrates thinness & equates that to worth, but I get to write my own narrative now,” she wrote. “I’m finally able to care for a body that I’ve punished my entire life & I am finally free.”

She told “GMA” that she’s hopeful that sharing her story will help others.

“I actually feel like I can take on the things that life is throwing my way and I have been happier in the last six months, through my recovery than I’ve been in my entire life,” Holliday said. “I feel whole. I feel at peace. I really feel in my power.”