Since there is an assumption that a lot of models ‘starve themselves’ to stay thin, I always find it both funny and shocking when people ask me if I ‘overeat’ or am ‘fed better’ on photo shoots to help me stay a ‘larger size.’ While I may be a total foodie and enjoy cooking, I simply eat when I’m hungry and finish just before I’m full.

I've got big hips and a big body. I'm double, triple the size of other models - and I embrace that - I own it.

The truth is I couldn’t care less about needing a supposed 'thigh gap.' It’s just another tool of manipulation that other people are trying to use to keep me from loving my body. Why would I want to starve and weaken my natural body size? I’m not saying women who have it naturally are unattractive. But I would have to change my entire frame just to achieve something that seems so trivial.

A healthy body isn't defined by weight or size. It's about so much more.

The last thing I would want for my future daughter would be to starve herself because she thought a thigh gap was necessary to be deemed attractive.

People use me as a figurehead, and to me that misses the point and is blatantly offensive to thin women - my sister, for one. Curves don't epitomise a woman. Saying, 'Skinny is ugly' should be no more acceptable than saying fat is. I find all this stuff a very controlling and effective way of making women obsess over their weight, instead of exploiting their more important attributes, such as intellect, strength and power. We could be getting angry about unequal pay and unequal opportunities, but we're too busy being told we're not thin enough or curvy enough. We're holding ourselves back.

Most of the brands that have used me don't say I'm "plus-size" - and there are other plus-size girls doing really well. But there is still a gap in "normal size" girls being represented. There are so many size 8 girls in shape; they look hot, but there is a lack of diversity for them. At the moment there's an extreme on both size sides. But it's changing, and that can only be seen as positive.