
When I was 10, my uncle put his hand on my tummy when he kissed me goodbye and said, “getting a belly there Con.”
My heart sank.
When I was 12, my teacher asked me to suck in for the school photo.
My heart sank.
Watch Constance Hall speak to Mia Freedman on No Filter. Post continues below.
When I was 14, I was nicknamed POG, standing for prisoner of gravity.
My heart sank.
When I was 16, my friend’s mum told me I had such a pretty face, making it such a shame I couldn’t keep my weight down because I had such potential.
My heart sank.
When I was 17, my sleazy boss at a clothing shop told me he would have cracked onto me if I lost some weight.
Finally, I thought, a benefit to my weight.
I proceeded through life blaming everything on my weight. If only I were thin, I’d have that job, that boyfriend, that outfit. Everything would be OK, if only I were thin.
I got cheated on because I was fat, men didn’t call me back because I was fat, I wasn’t invited to the hipster’s parties because I was fat. Life was rejecting me because I was fat.
But I was wrong.
Life was rejecting me because I believed I was fat. And who could blame me, after the life I had lived with my entire community hoping for my sake that I’d get thin?
I had kids, bought houses, followed passions, travelled and before I knew it I was valuing myself on much more than the number on a tag of my jeans.