A UK teenager who lived off just one banana a day after being bullied has become a beauty queen.
A UK teenager who lived off just one banana a day after being bullied has become a beauty queen. Rosie Essex, 17, from Milton Keynes, survived on around 89 calories per day after being tormented so severely about the way she looked. Rosie's bullies made her believe she was overweight and she became obsessed with being skinny.
She says, "I'd be laughed at and called names like Trevor the bulldog. I had puppy fat when I was younger and I was timid so I guess I was easy prey for people. Once, some girls took my school uniform during our P.E. lesson and put it under the showers so it was soaking wet. I had to walk around for the rest of the day in my P.E. kit whilst everyone laughed and told me how fat I looked."
Fed up with this annoying life, Rosie spent every day thinking of ways to change her appearance - she hated everything about the way she looked. Rosie recalls, "I just wanted to be someone that no-one would pick on so I would starve myself for days and just eat one piece of fruit.ā
Rosie's weight plummeted to just five and a half stone when she was 13-years-old. After three years of allowing her eating disorder to rule her life, Rosie finally found the confidence to enter her first beauty pageant.
She says, "I entered Miss Teen Great Britain 2014 and was in the top five and plan to enter again this year. The pageant really helped me to believe in myself and be the person that I want to be. "I'm really outgoing and bubbly now which is so refreshing. I no longer feel like I have to hide away."
She adds, "Iām in a completely different place now, surrounded by people who love and support me. I have a healthy balanced diet as well as keeping fit by going to the gym. Even though I was so weak from starving myself and I still went to every dance class because my drive for success is so powerful. I was willing to do anything to rise above all the taunts and become an inspiration to other young women.ā
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