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Jill Goodacre speaks out over Victoria's Secret model Erin Heatherton who says she was pressured into losing weight

Ms Goodacre said 'curvy women are beautiful' and it was 'wrong' to pressure women to change their body shape

Rachael Revesz
New York
Friday 08 April 2016 14:30 BST
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Ms Goodacre, 52, said people 'exude the way they feel' and that makes them beautiful
Ms Goodacre, 52, said people 'exude the way they feel' and that makes them beautiful (Rex Features)

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Former supermodel Jill Goodacre has spoken out against the pressure on models to lose weight after Erin Heatherton revealed that was the reason she left Victoria’s Secret.

“I think every female should be happy in their own skin and if you see a curvy woman, that's beautiful,” Ms Goodacre told E! during the finale of American Idol.

”I mean, you exude how you feel and there should be no pressure to lose weight. I think that's wrong, I really do.”

The 52-year-old mother of three was speaking just days after Ms Heatherton revealed in an interview with TIME’s Motto that the lingerie company had asked her to lose weight ahead of their annual fashion shows in 2013.

“I look back like, 'Really?'” said Ms Heatherton.

Heatherton walks for Victoria's Secret in 2013
Heatherton walks for Victoria's Secret in 2013 (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

The former "VS angel" said she spent a lot of energy by eating healthily and exercising twice a day but her body started to “resist” her.

“I’m willing to sacrifice my pride, in a sense, and my privacy because I know that if I don’t speak about it, I could be withholding information that would really help women,” she added. “It hurts too much to keep it in, and that’s why I’m not keeping it in now.”

The 27-year-old from Illinois left the company after five years as the pressure made her feel “depressed”.

“And I got to a point where one night I got home from a workout and I remember staring at my food and thinking maybe I should just not eat,” she said.

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