Virginie assumes her size and does photo shoots in public: “You can be happy being fat”

Every Saturday and every Sunday, the RTL info editorial staff offers the Grand format. These are reports that address social issues in the form of portraits, immersion, behind the scenes and investigations in the field.

We thus met Virginie. At 33, she claims to be “fat” herself. After many years of suffering disrespectful looks and ridicule, after years of trying to lose weight by dieting, she now chooses to accept her body. “If it were so easy to lose weight, insofar as it’s really not the point to be fat because we are constantly subjected to violence… me, if I had found the miracle recipe for lose weight, I would have lost weight a long time ago“, confides the mother of two children to us. “JI’m sick of apologizing for having this body. I don’t really have to apologize for anything. We each have the body we have. I am not responsible for the fact that I am fat. It’s something that I understood. I stopped thinking it was my fault and I stopped thinking it was serious. And I would add that even if I was not well. Even if I was sick, that doesn’t allow anyone to disrespect me“, she adds.

I tell myself that it will perhaps allow a teenager or two to believe in it and not screw up their physical and mental health.

Virginie now campaigns against discrimination and the dictatorship of thinness. If she does not seek to glorify fatness, Virginie hopes to contribute to changing society’s view of women who are discriminated against, mocked, humiliated. For this, she participates in photo shoots in public. Virginie thus unveiled herself with other women in front of the Moulin Rouge or in the Paris metro.

A few days ago, she arranged to meet us on the platforms of the Guillemins station, in Liège. “Contrary to what I have long thought, there are people I like. So obviously I’m not going to please everyone, but there is no one who pleases everyone. And it still feels good to remember that, that I can please“, says Virginie.

She looks at the photos taken during the shoot and is satisfied. “There, when I look at the photos, you can see that I’m having fun, that I’m having fun, and I know that I’m in a happy period of my life. So I’m thinking maybe a teenager or two will believe in it and not screw up their physical and mental health by dieting and trying to achieve a slim body, when we can just being happy and healthy being fat“, reacts Virginia.

Find our complete portrait of Virginie on RTL Play.