Charli Howard Slams Fat-Shaming Text from Date

Charli Howard has shared her outrage after she was 'fat-shamed and told to ' by a man she has been dating.

The model, 34, has spent a decade fighting the fashion industry's toxic obsession with thinness after she was once told by her agency that she was 'too big'.

After six years working as a professional model and a decade suffering with eating disorders, Charli has now faced being body-shamed by someone she has gone on seven dates with.

The Agent Provocateur campaign star took to Instagram on Tuesday to share a series of stories about the man, whose identity she has not disclosed.

She wrote: 'Been on 7 dates with this guy. He just messaged me this evening saying that I'm the 'biggest woman' he's ever dated and asked 'will I ever get bigger than this' as 'ideally' I'd be smaller.

'He said if I ever put on any more weight it would be a deal breaker and 'shall we go for a jog' together.

'Oh and he told me it's best I don't tell anyone about this conversation. So I am :) Btw I'm a size 10 rn'.

Charli shared a screenshot of the WhatsApp message, captioning it: 'This is the text he sent before I called him to ask what he meant by this... and before he said that he was worried I'd give my future kids diabetes. Oh, and that I'm overly sensitive too.'

The text read: 'With the whole body thing I will be frank and I think it's really important that we don't even think about moving forward without discussing this. 

'Again, I hate addressing a subject like this over text and it just feels so s****y because all we write about is how I perceive you. You're the goddam [sic] proven model and I'm just some short, big-nosed, IT dweeb.

'So let us please keep that last statement in mind. I hope that you will at least see me as being upfront and honest... I don't have experience of a relationship with someone with your body type and I know that could be something that makes you really anxious.

'It's not an active thing I think about, just the nature of how things worked out and my experience. Would I say I have relationships with girls of the same 'type' then I'd also say, no.

'We are allowed preferences in life and as someone who has physical touch as a language it is a very important thing for me.'

Charli declared: 'A UK size 10/US size 6 is not big, nor is a size 12, and in answer to his questions: - yes, this is more or less the size I will be from now on - I am almost 35 years old, I will never look like a 20 year old again - no, I don't want to go on a 'jog with you' to lose some weight.'

She continued: 'Oh and one final thing (sorry but I'm fuming) he said he wants to still see me and get to know me to see if he can get to like and understand my body. I am not Shrek ffs?!!!! nor a f***ing toy!!!!'

The model added that the timing of the man's actions was 'ironic' given her new book Flesh - a feminist essay collection exploring how society has sexualised and objectified the female body throughout history - lands in bookshops this Thursday. 

'I've worked two years on it and I'm not gonna let some WASTEMAN ruin this achievement for me,' she wrote.

Her candid posts were met with outrage from friends. 

Bridgerton actress Genevieve Chenneour called the man an 'incel c***', while fellow model Kelsey Lear Lafferty wrote 'he can get to know my fist very closely' - prompting Charli to reply 'hahahaha love you.' 

Photographer Emily Delphine declared it 'the absolute audacity', while model Jena Goldsack wrote 'good god.'

Charli shot to fame in 2015 when she was dropped by her modelling agency for being 'too big' despite being, by her own account, medically underweight at the time.

At the time, she wrote a blistering open letter that went viral overnight, racking up thousands of shares and landing her a slot on Channel 4 News.

She has since built a successful modelling career, fronting several campaigns including Agent Provocateur, Good American and GHD.

When Charli was dropped by her agency over ten years ago for being 'too big', her open letter in response read: 'I refuse to feel ashamed and upset on a daily basis for not meeting your ridiculous, unattainable beauty standards.

'The more you force us to lose weight and be small, the more young girls are being made ill.'

In 2021, she was named in Forbes' 30 Under 30. She co-founded the All Womxn Project to champion diverse body types in fashion and launched her own vegan skincare line, Squish, which counts Dua Lipa among its fans and is stocked at Urban Outfitters.

Charli has spoken candidly about her struggles with anorexia and bulimia, which began when she was around ten years old.

'I tried to change to fit someone else's idea of beauty, which is 20 years of my life that I will never get back,' she has written. 'Losing weight does not equal happiness.'

Despite frequently being labelled a 'plus-size' model, Charli has always pushed back against the term. 'I'm curvy, but I know that I'm not a plus-size model and I've not given myself that term,' she told Hello! magazine. 'That's what other people label me.'