In our image-obsessed culture, those who are anything but the norm are usually left behind or pushed aside. Lizzie Velasquez, a 23-year-old student who has been diagnosed with a very rare condition, dares to stand out and speak out.
Lizzie has no adipose tissue, which means there is 0 body fat on her even though she eats an estimated 60 small, high-calorie meals a day in order to keep up her energy levels.
Now a senior college student, Lizzie has also become an author: her book, “Be Beautiful, Be You,” is now out in stores.
Almost a year ago, she sat down with an interview with Dr. Drew, but she did not anticipate the kind of bullying and negativity she got.
Today, back again on Dr. Drew, she says she’s learned to deal with all that, as the video below will confirm.
“I'm human... of course these things are going to hurt... (but) I'm not going to let those things define me. At the end of the day, these are just words. If they are so proud, then they should show their face,” Lizzie says of the online bullies who gave her the nickname “the world’s ugliest woman.”
It’s the anonymity of her bullies that discourages her, she goes on to say. By now, she’s accustomed to people staring at her in the street, though she knows for a fact they’d be better off if, instead of staring, they learned from her lesson.
“I'm starting to want to go up to these people and introduce myself or give them my card and say, ‘Hi, I'm Lizzie – maybe you should stop staring and start learning’,” she says.
As for not being “one with the crowd,” Lizzie chooses to see the full half of the glass.
“I feel I'm really glad I don't look like the celebrities out there who are beautiful, because there are a lot of stereotypes attached to that,” she explains.
“People think ‘she's so pretty, she must be really dumb.’ Since I don't look like that it's better because people can get to know the real me,” Lizzie adds.
Check out her amazing interview below.
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