Former Victoria's Secret Model Erin Heatherton is speaking out about her experiences with weight loss pressure in the modeling industry. Not only did it cause Erin body image struggles where she did not feel comfortable with herself, but it also led her into a state of depression.
Last week, it came out in Time Magazine about the struggles she had while working with Victoria's Secret. Erin walked in the VS Fashion Show from 2008 to 2013 and was one of their well known Angels. She finally called it quits following the 2013 show. There was really no talk of why the model had left until recently after she had posted an Instagram about women's empowerment and being empowered by failure.
Following the Instagram, it became apparent that it was the Victoria's Secret show that she is referring to as a failure. “My last two Victoria’s Secret shows, I was told I had to lose weight,” she says. “I look back like, ‘Really?'” She explains how she had been working out twice a day and eating healthy to try and get to the target weight. Erin was able to hit the target weight in the 2012 show but the following year even with the routine she had she said: “I was really depressed because I was working so hard and I felt like my body was resisting me.” Then the model went on to explain how this need to loose weight made her consider other options. “And I got to a point where one night I got home from a workout and I remember staring at my food and thinking maybe I should just not eat.”She finds it so important to speak out so that other women can break out as well. When Erin parted with Victoria's Secret after the 2013 show she tried to focus on understanding her body. She considers this "failure" something that led her to her "purpose in life." “I’m willing to sacrifice my pride, in a sense, and my privacy because I know that if I don’t speak about it, I could be withholding information that would really help women,” she explains. “It hurts too much to keep it in, and that’s why I’m not keeping it in now.”
When people like Erin come out and explain the extreme flaws there are in the industry it allows so many women to understand that the women they see in campaigns and fashion shows sacrifice so much to try to achieve these unrealistic bodies. With more and more companies using what they call plus size models or real models it allows the industry to be more realistic. Even France has come out with the new law that banned models that had a BMI that fell below 18 makes a huge impact on where this industry is headed. This is all leading to something that could put an end to body shaming and create positive body images for women. Erin still models for many brands including Sports Illustrated where she shows off her healthy body where she can be confident and inspire other women to never feel you need to fall to a certain weight to be accepted.
We live in a time where women and young girls look up to the models they see through social media and all types of publicity. When these models come out and explain that what they are trying to achieve is sometimes extremely unrealistic for even them it just makes it seem even more insane. Every woman deserves to feel comfortable in their own skin and not be ashamed of themselves when they look at advertisements. This industry is on its way to starting to understand that they have the ability to empower women and the need to keep working towards that goal.
