Model Elizabeth Holland was told ‘shrink overall’ by agency - despite being a size 8

‘It did more damage to my mental health than my physical health’

Elizabeth Holland said being told to 'shrink overall' made her develop an unhealthy relationship with food (Facebook)

A British model has claimed a modelling agency told her she needed to lose weight and “shrink overall” – despite being a size eight and nearly 5ft 10”.

Elizabeth Holland, 21, has been working as a model in the north of England since the age of 16. She was scouted by a big modelling agency two years ago, but was told she needed to “shrink overall” and that her hip measurements needed to go from 37in to 35in, The Sunday Times reports.

Her mother, Jayne Moss, from Hull, told the newspaper she is backing calls by MPs to bring in new laws to protect young models, and that she wants to tell families of other young models to “be vigilant about what their daughters are told to eat,” explaining that Holland is “still recovering”.

Holland said she wanted to share her experience, along with pictures of herself, on Facebook to “show everyone the reality of this messed up world of modelling and social media.”

Hey! First of all excuse the pictures but the only purpose of these is for me to show everyone the reality of this...

Posted by Elizabeth Anne Holland on Tuesday, 3 November 2015

“They told me my hip measurements were too big and I needed to shrink over all. I'm 5'9 nearly 5'10 size 8... And they wanted me to be smaller? Unfortunately I fell for it,” she wrote on Facebook, after the promise of becoming an “icon” and getting to travel the world.

When she was offered two month’s work in Japan, without having yet reached the agency’s size requirements, Holland quit the agency.

The agency, which Holland has not named, told her to eat porridge and salads, but as her diet progressed, she was told to stay away from nuts and to eat seeds, small amounts of food and no fruit or juices, the model told The Sunday Times. Holland said she was also going to the gym every day and snacking on tomatoes.

Writing on Facebook, Holland said: “I was really tired, in fact, no, exhausted, I got too ill and very thin, even when I was at my worst I was still not good enough. This [did] more damage to my mental health than my physical health.

“I was never good enough for being me. [It] drove me to have an unhealthy relationship to food and depression. It's stripped me of my self-esteem and confidence. It affects my family, relationships, work. They made me feel so bad that I don't feel good enough for anything or anybody around me, and contemplated taking my own life at my worst.”

In text message seen by The Sunday Times, Holland was told by one of the agency’s employees: “We got you down to 92cm [36in] before so you know you aren’t naturally the size you are now. It does take hard work and discipline as you know. Most girls enjoy the nutrition side of things, but if you find it annoying I understand.”

Holland said she relapsed after being scouted by another modelling agency in the summer. She said that after attending a workshop for the agency she was again told she was “too big”.

She has received many of messages of support since sharing her experience and has backed the petition to create a law to protect young models from becoming dangerously thin, led by model Rosie Nelson, who was told her agency wanted her to lost weight “down to the bone”.