Tess Holliday tells Piers Morgan he doesn't have to worry about her 'fat a**'

The plus-size model has received widespread praise for her Cosmopolitan cover

(Getty Images for New York Fashion Week: The Shows)

Tess Holliday has responded to Piers Morgan’s scathing comments over her Cosmopolitan cover, which the Good Morning Britain host criticised as “dangerous” and “misguided”.

Uploading a snap of the magazine on Instagram, Morgan challenged the idea that putting a model of Holliday’s size on the cover was a positive demonstration of body positivity, calling it a “load of old baloney” amidst Britain’s ongoing obesity crisis.

The UK size 26 model swiftly wrote a response on Twitter, which she addressed to “everyone saying I’m a burden to the British healthcare system”.

“I’m American so you don’t have to worry about my fat a**,” Holliday wrote in a tweet on Thursday that has since garnered more than 4,300 likes.

“Worry about what horrible people you are by whining about how me being on the cover of a glossy magazine impacts your small-minded life,” she added.

In his caption, Morgan argued that putting Holliday on the cover of such a prolific women’s title was just as “dangerous” as celebrating size zero models.

Morgan's comments have largely been condemned by his Instagram followers, with many describing his words as fat-shaming.

“Wow, way to try to be relevant again by body-shaming a woman,” wrote one person.

Another argued that the TV presenter had “missed the point” of the cover, explaining that it was primarily about promoting self-love and acceptance.

“No, we are celebrating different body types and embracing who we are,” one person wrote.

“No matter what shape or size we are we should at least love ourselves,” another added.

“She loves her figure and I admire her. As someone who's had so many years of insecurities, it's amazing to see one of the many realistic bodies on the magazines of Cosmo.”

(Cosmopolitan UK / Ben Watts (Cosmopolitan UK / Ben Watts)

Another accused Morgan of being biased towards plus-size women: “Yet you aren’t posting images of overly thin women on your IG saying how they promote an unattainable body image and can cause people to develop an eating disorder or orthorexia,” they wrote.

However, a few people agreed with him to a degree, describing the cover as problematic, with one person accusing Cosmopolitan of “glorifying morbidly obese people”.

“I don’t get this,” one person wrote, “obesity is a huge drain on the NHS as it causes multiple medical conditions, the biggest being type 2 diabetes, a condition which is now costing the NHS (which you pay for) billions.

“I’m sure she’s a lovely person but obesity should not be celebrated.”

Others disputed the idea of labelling Holliday as unhealthy based purely on her appearance:

"There was a study recently that showed there is not a direct correlation to size and health," one person wrote.

"In fact many non-plus people were more unhealthy. Of course weight can be problematic but don’t say she is unhealthy."

The Independent has contacted Tess Holliday for comment.