Tess Holliday has long been an advocate and leading force in the body-positive movement, so it’s little surprise that she called out an Uber driver who thought it was a good idea to discuss her health during their drive together. In an Instagram post shared on Wednesday, Holliday explains that she will be boycotting Uber and all its services after effectively being fat-shamed during the ride.
The popular model shared a short clip on Instagram of the alleged incident, where a driver is heard saying something that sounds like “cholesterol.” Holliday snaps back, “My cholesterol is fine, yeah. I’m healthy.” As she explains in the caption for the post, Holliday’s driver not only questioned how she could be healthy at her size, but challenged her assertions. “No one should have to tolerate this at any level of the services you offer,” she wrote. “I’m fat. I also have a fat wallet & will no longer be using your services.”
Before earning the distinction of being the first size-22 model to grace the cover of People magazine in 2015, Holliday had launched the popular hashtag #effyourbeautystandards on Instagram. The hashtag, which users of all body sizes and shapes utilize, grew to encompass much of what the body-positive movement stands for. Namely, that bodies can be fat, thin, short, tall, or whatever shape, and still be beautiful and worthy of self-love. Still, Holliday has been the subject of much online trolling. In 2015, she was among several plus-sized models who were Photoshopped to appear thinner and “healthier.” An edit note to her caption on Instagram pointed out that she shared the post to “show what [she deals] with daily & why this behavior is unacceptable from anyone.”