"America's Next Top Model": Chatting with winner Whitney Thompson

So what will you be up a few weeks from now when things settle down? 
Everything: I've already booked out the next couple weeks. It's pretty exciting. I meet with my representative form Elite today so I'll figure all of that out. This upcoming week I'm in In Touch magazine, People, and then Seventeen comes out and my billboard comes out. 

Are you happy with how you turned out on the show? Do you feel like we saw the real you?
Yeah, I do. It's funny because most of the girls say, "No, they didn't show it right," and I, obviously, was not shown that great on the show. I don't look like the nicest person in the world. I'm going to tell you straight up, that's me, that's my personality. It was edited pretty appropriately. That's just the truth. In real life, I'm a real person. You have ups and downs and sometimes you're nice and sometimes you're not and that's just me.

Do you keep in touch with anyone from the show?
Oh, yeah. Anya and I are still best friends: I just visited her in Hawaii. I still talk to Marvita, Stacy Ann, Lauren, Claire, Aimee. I just went out with Fatima this past week in New York. We still talk, but it's different after the show's over. 

I saw some pictures on a Web site of you modeling pre-ANTM where you didn't look full-figured. What's the story with that? 
I've only ever modeled locally in Jacksonville, Florida. I didn't do any big campaigns. Those are from Jacksonville Magazine. I had a great photographer who does some  great airbrushing too, but I'm not small in those pictures. I'm about maybe a size 6 or an 8, because those are from high school.

I wasn't sure if you had to gain weight for Top Model or anything like that. 
Oh, no.  I went on the show, and I'm the one who said "I'm a plus-sized model." Which is so funny because when I was when I was there, all the other girls there that were my size were like "Oh, you know, I'm a size ... 10." And I was like "Pfft. I'm a size 10! Yeah!" I think that's why they took me out to L.A. I didn't expect to make it that far. People always told me, "You should be on that show!" And I was like, "Please, I would never get on that show." And look at me now! Never say never. 

It's weird because those of us who are non-models say that a size 10 is not at all plus-sized or even full-figured. 
It is because it's not. It's below average. 

Did you have to adjust your mindset to the fact that in real life you're just a beautiful woman but on the show you're kind of a special case?
I think the fact that I didn't adjust my mindset is what took me further. Instead of being like "Oh no, I'm big!" I was like, "Yeah, I'm making pancakes for breakfast!" I think that really did help because you have to keep your hopes high and your mentality going. At the end of the day, you don't have anyone but yourself.  All the quote-unquote friends you have are still your competitors, which is really really difficult for anyone. There were times that I locked myself in the bathroom and cried. It got rough, but I think what made me go further than any other plus-sized model, especially on this season, was the fact that I didn't just come in and go, "Hey, I'm not skinny, but I'm really pretty." It was more like "OK, almost the majority of all 9-year-old girls have been on a diet, and why isn't anyone changing that?"  I'm not supporting that, and I'm not supporting being emaciated and starving yourself, and I will go further.

Did the girls ever give you crap about being full-figured?
You saw when Stacy Ann was like "Whatever, you're fat." And I was like "Uh, perhaps you meant P-H-A-T," which is totally my personality. There were a few times. I think the girls were a little jealous that they had to diet and they had to do this work to be super skinny, and I was like "Well, I don't, and my pictures still came out better than yours." I think it was difficult for them because the plus-sized models usually lose their confidence within the first week or two. I think they were like "What? Well you're big!"

It was refreshing that you didn't keep hammering that "I'm big, and I'm beautiful" and that on the show you strove to be a model and not so much a role model.
Even though there are disadvantages to being bigger, in the long run the best thing that's happened to me is that even before everyone knew that I won, I got e-mails from girls and boys from all over the world saying "I've dealt with an eating disorder and you've had me seek help and I see your confidence and how you do it," people who were really looking up to me just for my ideas on the show, not even knowing I had won. I think that's really the best reward I could possibly have. 

Being plus-sized didn't seem to affect you too much on the show, except maybe on the go-sees.  Was it an issue other times?
It was an issue a lot because the clothes didn't fit me ever, which they don't show on camera because I didn't make it an issue, like, "What, why don't the clothes fit?" I anticipated the worst at every challenge and photo shoot, like when they handed me a size 2 skirt and said "Put this on" and the stylist was cutting it and sewing it on. It's embarrassing. What girl wants to be told "You're too fat so we're going to glue you into the skirt." That is difficult, but I anticipated the worst.  I was prepared mentally for that. Thank God, because that could really drag you down.

Was that an issue at the Versace show?
Do you know how many dresses I tried on to find two that fit? They were like, "OK, stop breathing." All the girls there are very small, and and I'm not. The guys were so funny, though. Donatella's head henchmen were like [in an Italian accent] "Oh, it's so good that you're here. Those girls were so skinny." It was good to hear from them that "Eew, these models are grross." 

I thought it was nice that Paulina Porizkova said that while Anya might be the one you buy the dress from, you're the one men want in the bedroom.
Yeah, but at the same time, why would a girl rather buy a dress from a stick figure?  The designers are the ones that make that popular. When I see a skeleton walking down the runway, I don't go, "Ooh, wow, I want to look like her." It's like, "Um, where'd she go?" 

Tyra's made body image an issue on her talk show. Do you think she favored you at all because you represented something she had been a proponent of?
I wish. I think that in the beginning Tyra felt that I would fall flat like everyone else. I don't know because she hasn't told me, but when I watch the show, I see what she says about me when I'm not there. She's like, "Well, Whitney's not that great," and then toward the end then he starts thinking, "Well maybe she is." But the truth is, Tyra is not the panel. There are five people there, so even if Tyra did want me to win, which I don't think she did in the beginning but hopefully she did in the end, it wouldn't matter if nobody else wanted me to. Plus, the show's been on for five years, if she really wanted a plus-sized girl to win ... come on. 

What kind of work do you see yourself doing further down the road?
I'm not saying that I won't do anything because I really want my name and my face out there and I want people who don't watch the show as well to to see me and go, "Hey, that girl is twice the size of the girl on the cover next to her, and she's still a model and that is beautiful." No one from the generation behind me has anyone to look up to. Truly all of their role models are in rehab or have eating disorders, and I feel like it might be a lost generation because of that. I'm not saying no to anything. I really want to work and work and work and just get everything I want to out there.

So you see yourself aspiring to work as much for Versace as you do for Marina Rinaldi?
I want to throw it all out there, but definitely the high fashion ones are more difficult. They are the ones that do the skinny models. Some people are starting to change a little. Vogue had a plus-sized model in a couple issues ago, which is a big deal. She was my size. She wasn't a 16 or anything, but that's a start. This is just one step. But it's a big step. I think it's going to go well, and I'll go far. 

Do you care to dispel any myths about being full-figured model? For instance, I imagine you don't sit around eating bonbons and then show up on set.
It's about being healthy. Being obese is no better than being emaciated, and I have to keep telling people that. I don't sit around and eat donuts all day. I still wear bikinis and look good in them. It's just about being the best you you can be, and you can't do anything other than that. Another myth is that being a plus-sized model means you're fat. Guess what: it doesn't. It means that you're normal, which is considered plus-sized. Why in the world are we saying are we saying that's fine, designers? Yeah, let's tell my 9-year-old daughter that a size 6 is too fat.

I interviewed some of the girls who exited the show who do have daughters, and when I asked them what advice they'd give them about the modeling world, they didn't mention anything about body image or anything like that.
I'm so glad my parents never put me in any modeling when I was young. Girls get really mentally messed up about that stuff. 

-- Claire Zulkey

Comments

[Sexy at any Size]

A telling commentary on our times that a size 10 is a plus size. Still we can take heart from a fact that what is termed as plus size in the modeling and fashion world was the winner after all.

[Sexy at any Size]

It is refreshing that full figured, curvy, REAL women are once again being seen as beautiful. At the end of the day it is about confidence and being comfortable in your own skin that matters!

[alex]

Hello!! I'm currently a senior in high school and I really want to enter into the modeling career and I would like to know how you got started and if you have any advice for me to follow to hopfully become successful in my on going dream of becoming a model.

[Rachelle]

Aw, Whitney totally deserved to win. Its true, stick-figured models are gross. Id rather see curves then bones! Body image is such a big issue in the world and we have to change that! Whitney proved that no matter what size you are you can be just as succesful!

[Debra Alpert]

First, I have to comment that a size 10 or even a 12 is not a considered a plus size. In the plus sizes division clothing begins at a size 14W which is much different than a regular size 14. Whoever labeled Whitney as a Plus size model doesn't know anything about plus sizes. She is a beautiful girl that is outside the size range of a straight size model which does not make her a plus size model. There is no term for her size. The Plus Size clothing cut is fuller to allow more room in the bust, belly or waist line. I didn't watch the TV show but I'm aware that the show wants controversy and they will make it happen whatever the cost is to a person. And good for Whitney to stick it through. My experience with straight size models. For some or many, have a difficult time keeping their weight down at a 2,4,6, or 8 wether its because they enjoy food too much, or their big bones and their frame is meant to be for a larger size, therefore, they have starved themselves by whatever means possible. Then after a while they let go and become more comfortable with their body becoming a 10 or 12. Thats great and good for them finally becoming more body aware. Unfortunately, the fashion industry then labels you in a negative way. The modeling agency then says to the model, well come over to the Plus size division. Even though they are too small for them. But with some girls padding may help and maybe with some designers who design plus size smaller than average they get away with it to the clients who want to show fuller girls but not too full. But to the rest of the United States when a truly size large women see these girls they resent them because they are truly NOT representing those large size women who are 16's 18's & 20's Plus. Its quite a frustrating business for the model. In the straight sizes you have to maintain a certain size and stick with it as long as you are in that business. I remember, Kate Moss had to keep a certain weight in order to continue working for Calvin Klein. In the plus size, its a bit easier you can fluctuate with your size. Sometimes the bigger the better. For print they like you to be a 10,12 and/or 14 plus but not bigger and for shows they want you to be even bigger. The clients in the industry don't know what they want because they want to please the buyer and yet they want their models to look good in their clothes. Some girls who are a size 18 want to get down to a 12 so they do more print work and catalogue. The fluctuating could be an ordeal for a plus size model. Okay, so the girl who is a 10-12 is not a plus size, but for the industry she is. But like most of us who watch runways or fashion shows. I know I want to see a healthier girl who looks sexy and full in clothes. So having said that , Whitney is not a plus size model in the rest of the countrys eye. She was labeled that by an uneducated industry. Thank you very much for letting me vent over an issue that has been around for over 25 years.

[Jen]

Size 12 to me is not plus sized. I'm a size 12 and I'm actually skinny, but I have big hips and happy with that. My mom pushes me to lose weight everyday though and I'm sick and tired of it. I pretty much just ignore her. I know I'm eating healthy and limiting the junk food. And I do exercises everyday or every other day depending on my schedule since I'm busy with school and some work. Things need to really change in the modeling industry. It's good to know that there are shows that are starting to step up and do the right thing, by not allowing stick-thin models go on the runway.

[Jerry Olstead]

First of all, On the show Whitney said she was a size 8. That is not PLUS size nor did I think it was appropriate for her to play that PLUS SIZE CARD throughout the show. I think Bankable Productions played this ploy to be the first to have a non-editorial/elite runway model. To me Whitney photographs beautifully but needs to refine her interview skills and stop the head bobbing from side to side like she did on the CW TV interview the morning after she won. Even the entertainment interviewer commented on how awful it looked. I hope Anja got put out there and signed on by some Elite agency...now that's a high fashioned editorial model who should never been critized for her Runway walk by Miss J. You walk down that runway wearing those pencil thin fitted dresses she had on instead of Whitney's free flowing hide the booty dresses she wore and I will have more respect for some unbiased judgement Miss J. Anja never spoke ill or treated anyone poorly throughout the show; on character alone she totally out-classed Whitney!!! Totally disappointed!!!

[MG]

She will be an appropriate model for a certain demographic.

All the best to her.

[TheRockofAges]

This is one of the stupidest shows on TV; although TV is for those easily led and manipulated.

[Judy]

Thank God for ANTM's choice to pick Whitney Thompson! It's about time somebody with a normal body won something. I hope Whitney shows up everywhere, from TV to magazines to album covers to movies. The industry doesn't realize how hungry the people are to see someone they can relate to like Whitney. Seeing her lets me know that I don't have to be a size 0 to look good in a bathing suit. I just have to be healthy and let my confidence show.

[Annaliese]

after watching each season, i am surprised with their choice this time. although whitney is a beautiful girl, in all previous seasons they have been advocates of unique, different, and interesting beauty. girls that are edgier like adrianne and naima or high fashion like nicole or yoanna. whitney has a look that is "normal" beauty, gorgeous face, blonde long hair and a hot body, she doesn't scream high fashion (she looked straight out of a men's magazine in that versace hot pink dress) but tyra/panel normally doesn't want a model that is men's magazine or catalogue, they try to gain a model that is going to be a newfresh face. also i found this season they were quite nice. usually they are quite a bit more critical in panel about models who may repeat themselves over again (like always having a profile picture, or giving the same eyes), and looking through whitneys portfolio on the CW EVERY photo has a half open mouth and eyes that dont really have meaning behind them, her body may have changed but she still wasn't being risky or creative. she really didn't seem inspiring to watch take pictures, and if she wasn't a full figured model i probably would have forgotten about her much earlier on in the competition. im not sure if the judges or producers were slightly biased in their desicions this time around to try and push for the "plus-sized" model, but i felt that whitney with her blonde barbie hair, and one face will not be able to keep up with the modelling industry full figured or not.

[cindy]

whitney is booo (thumb down)
i hate her (fake! drag queen, bitch)
i agree tyra choose her bcoz of Tyra sizes for now
y didnt anya win! she shud wiN! i see model inside her
ANTM is so fake and full of lies!

[fetchfox]

Her measurements are 36″-32″-43″ (US), per her profile at Elite. Which would make her about a 14/16 dress size. (Saks Fifth Ave. Women’s General Sizing Guide used for reference)

Personally, I couldn’t care less about what size, shape, colour, how high her hair is or otherwise. It’s her sizist attitude that I take issue with. If she is going to take the mantle of role model for size acceptance, then she needs to be accepting of ALL SIZES.

Instead, Whitney chooses to use a graphic with skinny bashing text below it on her myspace page. The text is “Skinny is 4 punks!” I won’t even go into the sizist remarks made (by both sides) during the show, because those could’ve been edited to have provided more drama for the show. Reality tv is not the actuality of the situations involved. It is entertainment television.

They should’ve used the model standard of height and measurements instead of this meaningless “dress size” that is NOT standard. It would’ve created a lot less controversy. Unless of course that’s what Tyra was going for all along.

In case anyone is wondering, yes I am thin. Through no fault or desire of my own. I have intractable epilepsy, pernicious anemia, chronic pain and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. The medication that I take to control my epilepsy as best they can kills my appetite and makes food taste vile. On a good week I may have only three or four seizures.

I don’t appreciate being told to “eat something” when there’s nothing more I would LOVE to do than to eat without the food in my mouth tasting like it’s putrid. But what choice do I have? The one medication that’s worked the best to control my seizures (and I have to take a combination of AEDs) has “taste perversion” as a side effect. Not to mention the kidney stones, the fatigue and the general “dumbing down” effect that comes with anti-epileptics. That still doesn’t stop people from making comments about my weight nor does it stop them from making comments about what kind of role model I’m being for my 11 year old daughter. Strange though, they never seem to worry what kind of role model I might be for my 15 year old son.

They never seem to notice the giant medicalert necklace nor the medicalert bracelet before they shoot their mouth off.

I’m also not the only person with this problem. I belong to an epilepsy support group and other epileptics with the same issue have faced the same ridicule, insults and allegations. (allegations of eating disorders by strangers) If you think that this has no effect on us or our families then you are mistaken.

Judgments suck.

[CebBlog]

Wow thank god...a normal sized woman, won that on America's Next Top Model. The public needs to start viewing woman her size as beautiful and healthy not, "Plus Sized." Maybe then people with eating disorders and body image problems could start to seem themselves in a more positive light. We need a push for healthier models within the fashion industry in order to drive home the severe health risks associated with 'size 0'. Our CED Blog gives updated information about eating disorders and how to defeat the epidemic that has been a constant challenge for many of us to combat within our society: http://eatingdisorder.org/blog/?p=16.

[Lacey]

Hey I am just 13yrs old and I have always struggled with weight my WHOLE life even as a young kid right now I can wear a size 7-10 you are a grown woman and I think that is perfectly normal. My mom just had a baby and is still skinnier than me so don't feel bad at all.

I am so proud of you for being the first americas next plus size model.

I wanted to wait until I was old enough to go on the show and I wanted to be the plus size model but great for you!!!!

[CEDBlog]

....and to tack onto my last comment, we actually just posted our position on how the media is Pigeon-holing Whitney as 'plus-size.' check out our entry and let me know what you think: http://eatingdisorder.org/blog/?p=40.

[mike scott]

when will the next america's next top model start? 6/25/08 thank you, mike

[baby lovey]

she is so FAKE!!!!....the producers told her to gain weight so she could be the first plus size model to win....it pisses me off...and (1): I consider people like Beyonce,shakira, jessica simpson,america ferreras, jennifer love hewit, "curvy",...a "Curve" is where something goes in then "curves" out...people who are FAT such as Nikki Blonsky(from hairspray) are NOT curvy, people like Rachel Bilson or any other vicoria secret model out there...i would sooo rather be super skinny than be more than a size 4...im 16 years old, 5'1, and weigh 100 lbs, and i try to stay super slim as hard as i can because FAT people disgust me...that is not attractive at all....dont get me wrong, bones jutting out arent attractive either, but there are girls who are skinny but toned and fit at the same time, thats hot to me...

[Carly]

I dont think you have to be so skinny to be a Model i am 13 years old and i want to be a model and i am in regular weight for my age but i say Girls of any weight can be a top model never let your dream go just of your weight..Watch on day i am going to be Americas Next Top Model!
-Dont loose Hope!!!

[jowilyn z. bito]

hello!!! congratz... u know that im always watching americas top model you are my favorite..im from philippines... CONGRATS...im so proud of you!!!