Model Iskra Lawrence called ‘fat’ at 15 and marked out of 10 – but is now curvy star

A body positive model has opened up about the struggles she faced getting into the industry while growing into her curvaceous body as a teenager.

Iskra Lawrence often preaches the importance of feeling good, and has hit back at haters who sometimes criticise her weight online.

The model, from Wolverhampton in Worcestershire, has a two year-old toddler and often shares tips with her five million Instagram followers on how to emphasise their curves in racy poses.

READ MORE: Model Iskra Lawrence celebrates ‘unseen parts’ with sexy lingerie snap

Now, Iskra reflected on her time starting out as a professional model, and suggested that she had been subject to appalling levels of scrutiny as a young teenager.

“I started when I was 13, and I did a runway when I was about 15, and I couldn’t fit in the clothes,” she recalled, while speaking on the Boots: Taboo Talk podcast.

“I was trying on things, I was hiding in the corner, and I was like, please don’t let anyone see that I can’t fit in these clothes.

“Of course, at some point the stylist saw me and he was like, ‘what is that fat model doing here, she can’t fit in any of the clothes, what are going to do?’ And they were like, ‘just put her in the coats’, at 15.”

Iskra explained that at that time, this kind of “brutal” environment was all too common, with models unable to voice how they felt in public without the help of social media.

In fact, the new mum admitted that she didn’t even know what “body shaming” was at the time that she first started modelling.

And, she stressed that being judged critically was commonplace, remembering: “I did get dropped from the agency because I couldn’t fit in the clothes anymore, so I was dropped.

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“They gave me a list of other agencies to go to, and I went to all of them, and they had those kinds of weird excuses, ‘you’re too curvy, too commercial, too mature, too womanly’… How can a 14 or 15 year-old understand what that means?

“One agency actually had a sheet of A4 paper and they would rate you out of ten for your teeth, skin, for your hair, imagine that? I would look and be like, ‘oh they only gave me a four, what’s wrong with my teeth?’”

Thankfully, Iskra was able to overcome this scrutiny, and now uses her influence as a body positivity activist to help other models feel good in their own skin.

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