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Plus-size model Tess Holliday said this week that she was recently told to lose weight by a flight attendant, and it left her in a “state of shock.”
The 40-year-old said she was flying first class on United from Tampa, Florida, with her 9-year-old son when she got up to use the airplane bathroom.
“I was in the restroom, and my hip hit the flight attendant call button,” she told People magazine. “When I came out of the bathroom, the flight attendant then started to tell me that they noticed I was traveling with my child, and that losing weight would be in my best interest.”
She said he continued to tell her about his sister whom he said was “very, very large, probably [Holliday’s] size,” who had been discriminated against on a flight recently.
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Tess Holliday said this week that she was recently fat-shamed by a flight attendant, and it left her in a “state of shock.” (Raymond Hall/GC Images)
“He said that his sister needed to lose weight as well, and that the long-term effect on our bodies isn’t good for our health,” she said. “This went on for about 10 minutes, and I think I was just frozen. I didn’t want to make a scene because my son was flying with me, but I was also in a state of shock.”
Holliday said in a TikTok video that it was also an important flight for her son because it was his first time flying first class since he was little.
“He had flown when he was a baby, but didn’t remember, so this was a really exciting experience for him,” she explained.
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The model was recently on a first class flight with her son. (Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images)
She said in the video that the flight attendant mentioned that someone had filed a complaint to United against his sister for her weight, and that United reached out to him and said things about his sister that “made him uncomfortable,” but he did “agree that she did need to lose weight.”
The Cosmopolitan UK cover girl said the flight attendant allegedly told her that he saw she was traveling with her child “and that if I cared about my child that I would do something, that I would lose the weight.”
“He then goes on to tell me that because of my size, I am kidding myself if I think that I don’t need to lose weight,” she claimed.
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Holliday said she knows that people hearing her story might think he was just trying to be helpful but stressed, “That’s not the point.” (Presley Ann/Getty Images for Betsey Johnson)
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Holliday said she knows that people hearing her story might think he was just trying to be helpful.
“That’s not the point,” she stressed. “You don’t say things like that to people. He said a myriad of other things. The conversation lasted entirely too long. Thankfully, I excused myself from the conversation when another passenger came up to use the bathroom.”
At the end of the video, she added that the same flight attendant came around to her seat offering snacks and allegedly gave her son gummies to keep him from being “tempted.”
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In a comment after the video, Holliday said that she had “talked to United and they said that they would pass it along and talk to the team member. I also told them I don’t want anyone losing their job. I just want them to be aware and maybe do some sensitivity training so it doesn’t happen again.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to a rep for Holliday for comment. United had no comment for Fox News Digital.