Plus-size model says they are also under pressure to have a flat stomach: 'You can be fat but not too fat'

A size 16 model has revealed the pitfalls of being a plus size model, saying the industry still "pressurizess" such models to look a certain way.

Twenty-year-old Sonny Turner who hails from Birmingham shared that even though plus-size models are being accepted into the industry, they still face a lot of "restraints" based on how they look.

Talking to the Daily Telegraph, she shared, "Even within the plus-size industry there's still pressure to look a certain way, and a preference to be hourglass."

"You can be fat but not too fat and you can be plus-size, but you've still got to have a flat stomach. It's annoying because plus-size is supposed to mean being whatever size you are - but within that, there are still restraints," she continued.

Turner who is represented by the Milk Model management and worked for brands such as Asos and Primark besides walking the runway in London as well as New York, also admitted that there is still a stigma attached to plus-size models with some critics believing that they are just unfit.

"I’ve still got to be cautious and watch what I eat, and I still have to go to the gym. I think the misconception is that we’re all unhealthy but if I was, I wouldn’t be able to do this job," she revealed.

Sonny was found by Milk founder Anna Shillinglaw who used to be a straight and curve model before she decided to start her agency. Initially, Sonny started out as a size 12 but was asked to "pad" up in order to look bigger for plus-size shoots.

In a Channel 5 documentary which aired last year, she shared, "This fat is making me money. I do feel like if I was as slim as I was when I first started then I wouldn’t have as many jobs. What happened to me when I first signed to Milk, I was definitely not plus-size, but I was not skinny enough to be a straight-sized model [either]. They were like 'we really want to sign you, you have a great face and great hair but you have to wear this fat padding'."

"Every casting and every job, especially if it was a plus-size brand I used to have to wear hip padding around the hips, a** padding," she shared.

"Yes, it was an open thing people used to talk about it and say 'can you pad up twice?' I was a size 12 and it would make me look a size 16, which is the size I am now. Which is just like crazy."