A body positivity campaigner who used to try and "wash" her stretch marks off at the age of 18 has spoken out about how her grandmother helped her completely change her outlook on body image.
Speaking about her past struggles, Felicity Hayward said the first time she noticed stretch marks on her stomach was back in 2007.
She was 18 at the time and was staying at her then-boyfriend's house in Leeds.
Felicity said she initially thought her jeans had made a mark on her skin so she did her best to try and get rid of the marks.
She told The Sun: "At first I thought my jeans had stained my skin, and I tried to wash them off.
"But after a couple of minutes of scrubbing, it dawned on me what they actually were.
"All I could think was: 'Oh my god, I’ve ruined my body forever.'
As magazines often airbrushed cellulite out in the past, Felicity thought it was something to be "ashamed" of.
And her insecurities only grew as she attended school in Bury St Edmunds, where she was "always the biggest girl in (her) class".
She recalls it feeling "embarrassing" at the time as her and her friends all wanted "Britney Spears’ washboard abs".
Felicity said, for the majority of her time during secondary school, she was a size 16.
She attempted to lose weight by fad dieting, such as eating nothing but ice lollies, but this was unhealthy and unsustainable.
As Felicity has got older, she's learnt to embrace it and truly love her natural body.
She said: "Listening to my grandma Sybil, now 92, I learned that my body was something to celebrate.
"As a size-6 woman, she’d say things like: 'Look at your lovely big boobs – I’ve always been flat-chested.'
"It taught me from a young age that everyone wants what the other person has."
Felicity went onto explain that, when she couldn't find clothes to fit her on the high street, her grandmother would take her to charity shops and car-boot sales.
It's said she became known as "the girl with the polyester tea dresses" by the time she reached her late-teens, which made her realise how powerful fashion can be when it comes to helping to build confidence.
As Felicity embraced her curves, her confidence began to catch on.
When she was out having a dance at an East London pub, she was scouted by fashion photographer Miles Aldridge.
She went on to land a fashion deal with TK Maxx – and ended up being approached by the girls she was bullied by at school.
Felicity added: "When I went home that Christmas, I was approached by a group of girls in a club who’d teased me at school. As they fawned over me, I ordered a bottle of Champagne.
"It was the best moment of my life. Though now I feel bad for them, because in school they were probably battling body image demons of their own."
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