Teen Bullied for Being ‘Fat’ Becomes Finalist on Miss UK Natural Curves

Peer pressure is something that few teens can resist, and the same goes for when they’re bullied. British Emily Cooper, now aged 19, knows all about that, after she developed bulimia after her mates bullied her in school and on social networking website Bebo for being “fat and ugly.” Luckily, she overcame that and is now a finalist on the Miss UK Natural Curves beauty pageant, the Daily Mail informs.

Given the media coverage she’s now getting for being in the competition, Cooper is making the most of the opportunity to speak out on the issue of eating disorders in teens, using her own case as an example. She was never that heavy to begin with, the Mail report says, but she was constantly under fire from her colleagues, with some of them even unleashing the most vicious attacks online.

“Pretty brunette Emily Cooper, 19, was bullied remorselessly in school by gangs of girls both in the playground and on social networking site Bebo. Despite weighing just 12 stone the 5ft 7in tall the teen was called ‘fat and ugly’ and nicknamed ‘cankles’ because of the size of her ankles. The bullies ridiculed Emily on a daily basis and during school trips to an ice-skating rink tried forcing her into a tiny mini-skirt to laugh at her size. The bright student was deliberately left out of party invitations and had to delete her Bebo account when a tormentor launched a vile attack, calling her a ‘fat ugly [expletive]’,” the Mail writes.

Succumbing to pressure, Emily started to make herself sick after eating to lose the extra pounds that everyone picked on her for. She was just 15 years old and, in a matter of just a few months, she saw her weight plummet – and her health take a turn for the worse. When she was transferred to another school, she realized all by herself what she was doing to herself, and sought help. Emily is now trying to point a blaming finger at all bullies and to tell girls who may find themselves in a similar situation not to lend an ear to what they (the bullies) are saying.

“I’ve always been quite big because I’m big-boned but I wanted to be dead skinny. The bullying got to me. I tried to eat properly but weight doesn’t drop off as quickly as you want it to. All the girls at school were skinny so I thought if I was skinny I could be more popular. I started making myself sick after meals but I soon realized it was wrong. When I lost weight I didn’t feel much different all that mattered was looking skinnier. To put myself through that was stupid,” Emily says for the same publication.