I think that when you use the word 'plus-size,' you're putting all these women in a category: 'You don't eat well.' 'You don't work out.' 'You could care less about your body.' 'You're insecure.' 'You have no confidence.'
I am just like any other woman, and I think I am the 'fattest woman alive' - but it is really about how you handle your situation.
I had to realize that if I didn't really love who I was, and if I couldn't appreciate this - my body - as my moneymaker, then I wasn't going to make any money.
That's really truly what my message is - finding self love within yourself and not comparing yourself to others - because there's no such thing as perfection, because perfection doesn't exist.
People want to know that there's someone else out there that looks like them.
My theory is that big underwear makes big girls look bigger.
There are reasons to set boundaries for yourself, but there are also reasons to keep doors open.
This is the thing: I know I'm paving the way for the next generation of girls, and they're not going to have to do this. That's what I hope. I'll take the brunt work and just handle it, and then you guys can just sail right on through.
One thing my mother did is that she never looked in the mirror and said, 'I'm so fat,'or 'I'm so ugly. I need to go on a diet.' Projecting that onto yourself is only going to make your daughter or son think that of themselves. Because they're a product of you.
For 10 years, I'd been told I was always going to be a catalogue girl, never a cover girl. Well, I got with IMG and did five covers in a year, boom, boom, boom.
People would do the sound of a truck backing up - beeeep, beeeep - as I was sitting down.
