This Victoria's Secret Model Has Been Told, to Her Face, That She's Fat

"Sometimes people don't understand that it's as offensive to criticize someone for being underweight as it is for being overweight, especially when your job revolves around your image," top model Blanca Padilla argued recently during an interview with Spanish TV personality Risto Mejide on his show Al Rincón (translation via TheFashionSpot (opens in new tab)). Padilla, a catwalk regular and Victoria's Secret Fashion Show alum, talked all things modeling during the interview — and didn't paint the rosiest picture of the industry and its pressures. "I always think that one of the most important this you have to learn in this society is to accept yourself, and that's very hard ... it's the same for models because we actually work with our body and physical appearance. This job isn't about liking yourself, is about being like your clients want. People at home probably think I'm being dramatic, but the only way to truly understand this is if you work in the industry."

Padilla, who says she works hard to maintain the ~insane~ body pictured above, has also been called fat to her face by agents and casting directors, because that's how the fashion industry works. Once she offered a fellow model some peanuts for dinner; the girl in question "hadn't eaten anything all day and she was like, 'All right, these will be my dinner,' and she had, like, four."

But on campaigns for greater diversity on the runways, such as the one led by Gigi Hadid, recently (opens in new tab), Padilla has mixed feelings. This isn't shade, just well-placed frustration and maybe a little bit of hanger: "I agree with what [Gigi] said," she told Mejide, adding that "I don't have a problem with the fact that you're a curvy girl on the runway, I support that. But if it was me with your same measurements going to a casting they would send me home to lose weight." The rise in celebrity models has had that effect — boosting the opportunities afforded a few big-name fresh faces but offering fewer opportunities for the comparatively anonymous model masses. "Most of us have to conform to extreme measurements," Padilla continued," because otherwise we won't book any jobs while others have the privilege to say that designers love them despite their curves. Well, then, why do they love you? Maybe your millions of followers on Instagram might have something to do with it as well!"

P.S. On the Victoria's Secret show specifically, Padilla said that it's a "really special" experience, even if some of the other models — she doesn't name names —are bitchy and entitled. (She added that she was forewarned things could get a bit "hostile.") Also, Taylor Swift stood in her way on the runway stage and that was kind of awkward, but hey, it could have been worse! (opens in new tab)

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