Size-22 Model Tess Holliday: 'I Don't Do Diets'

"It's okay to be who you are and love yourself," said Tess Holliday

Photo: James White

Tess Holliday is completely fine with her body just the way it is – and is firing back at anyone who criticizes her for it.

“[People] would always mention my success, but then it would always be followed by, ‘Well she’s unhealthy’ – which I’m not,” Holliday, 30, told Yahoo! Style.

The plus-size model says she is not glorifying being unhealthy, and just wants people to accept themselves and others for who they are.

“[It’s] like saying because someone is a darker skin tone or because someone is gay, that they’re glorifying that lifestyle – that’s who you are,” she said. “I know that I’m fat, but I think people completely miss the point of me trying to educate women, and show them that it’s okay to be who you are and love yourself.”

And Holliday has no intention to change who she is by trying to lose weight.

RELATED: Tess Holliday: from Bullied Teen to Size-22 Supermodel!

“I don’t do diets,” she said. “Diets don’t work.”

The size-22 social media star also explained why she publicly criticized Victoria’s Secret.

“They are perpetuating […] what’s wrong with America and with society in general – [the idea] that you have to look a certain way, like a Victoria’s Secret Angel, to feel beautiful and be sexy,” she said.

Her favorite icon has a decidedly different body shape.

“Miss Piggy was the first fat woman/pig on television that was sexy,” said Holliday of the character, who she has a tattoo of. “She wore fabulous clothing and always looked amazing!”