Remember Marciel Hopkins? The Miss SA 2016 finalist who lost 14kg in 4 months to participate in the pageant, but is today a proud curve model?
HuffPost SA caught up with Hopkins, who's now signed with ICE models and recently got international recognition as World Swimsuit Girl of the Day, in all her curvy glory. Hopkins, who calls herself a body-positive activist says there's no shame in putting on weight "if your body wants to be healthy in a different size than you were forcing it to be."
When did you realise modelling is something you wanted to do?
I've always wanted to become a model, but by the time I reached high school, I realised there are specific body and size requirements to become a model. Whenever I paged through magazines or watched beauty pageants on TV, I felt unworthy and not good enough about myself. I couldn't relate to any of the bodies that were perceived as "beautiful or desirable", so I was constantly criticising my body for not being small and petite enough.
So how do you overcome that in a pageant like Miss SA, where 'beautiful or desirable' bodies are largely, if not only, the small and petite ones?
It was a massive challenge for me! I had to fight a daily battle with my body to try and keep her smaller than what she wanted to be. I made drastic lifestyle changes by training 2 to 3 hours a week and I cut out all alcohol, red meat, sugar and starches from my diet. I lost 14kg in 4 months but I struggled to keep down the weight during the 7-month process of the competition. I remained a size 12 throughout the whole completion, even though my body got tired of being put under so much pressure to be lean. My natural happy size is a 14.
And what does that do to you mentally?
It was a mental challenge to compete in the competition because you are constantly compared to 11 other beautiful women. Some of them were working just as hard as me to keep their bodies in perfect shape and others were genetically slim. It was difficult to get up at 5 am every morning to go to the gym, while my roommate was still sleeping, because her body was naturally small and petite. But that's life, healthy looks different on every body. Bodies are different; there is no fair way to ever compare bodies against each other. Every body is beautiful in its own unique way!
What do you have to say to people who are now accusing you of promoting 'being fat'/'making fat okay' just because you have embraced your curves?
I have made it part of my daily entertainment to read these nasty comments. They actually make me laugh. I usually screen shot them and share them with my followers. For people accusing me of promoting obesity: You are clearly not reading my captions properly. I always say: Strive towards being the healthiest and happiest version of yourself. Healthy looks different on every body.
And now living as a curve model, do you think South Africa is at a place where it embraces all body types?
No, not at all. I think there is still immense potential for growth in terms of body diversity in the South African market. We are a diverse, rainbow nation that is represented by different shapes and sizes, but we unfortunately don't see all bodies represented in the media.