Real-life reads
Fourfearless womenreveal howtheycame tolovetheir imperfections
Body revolution: ‘We’re beautiful inside and out’; New mum’s heart attack horror; Royals in training: Could you make the grade?; Deaf Peyton’s new ears
I LOVE EVERYTHING AABOUT MYSELF
Trapped in a burning car at the age of two, Areena Lata can’t recall a time when her body wasn’t covered in scars from the inferno. But that hasn’t made her journey to self-acceptance any easier.
“I remember sitting in class when I was 12 and suddenly thinking to myself, ‘No-one in here looks like me,’” she tells. “I would look in the mirror and I couldn’t comprehend who I was on the outside to what I felt on the inside.”
Auckland-born Areena, 34, spent her teenage years trying to hide away, believing no-one would fall in love with her due to 80% of her body being covered in burns.
“I became very aware of people’s reactions when I was out in public and I would feel like an alien,” Areena admits.
But then she met her now ex-husband on an online dating site and fell in love. They went on to have two children, Simram, eight, and Aria, two, before splitting in 2016.
“It wasn’t until I met my husband, who is now sadly my ex-husband, and he made me appreciate me and my body,” says Areena, who now helps other burns victims recover their confidence.
“It took me a long time to really see what my mother had always told me about how we are beautiful for what we are on the inside. Now I can go everywhere and feel great. I love the way I am and everything about myself.”
I LEARNT TO LOVE MY CURVES
Coming from the Pacific Islands and finding herself in an all-Pakeha school in Auckland, AnitaCorey Tuimauga was bullied for the way she looked.
In a bid to avoid her tormentors, she would wear baggy boys’ clothes to hide her body and only started wearing dresses in her 20s.
“I had so many insecurities,” Anita says. “I was always a bit taller than everyone else and I was always so much bigger. I had a complex about being the chubby girl.
“And at that age, kids are nasty. The things that would come out of their mouths! I’d wonder how would they know how to say that.”
Mum-of-one Anita, 27, from East Tamaki, says it was sport that became her saviour in learning to love her body after joining a waka ama paddling group.
“I really found my confidence in that because they teach you that when you are competing, you are only competing against yourself, so just worry about yourself,” she smiles.
“And that translated into my own self-confidence. I was naturally quite good at it and I enjoyed it. I went on to do that for seven years and it was life-changing.”
These days, Anita says she approaches body positivity in the same way as general day-to-day attitude. “You can wake up and feel grumpy or you can wake up and look at things on the bright side,” she asserts. “So I found that body image was similar to attitude. I choose to embrace my body – it’s the body I have been blessed with, curves and all.”
When I get a call to come in for a casting for a job, I still have myself’ to pinch
I BECAME A PLUS-SIZE MODEL
Modelling has always been the dream for Shauni Wallace, but she confesses that for a long time, she believed she wasn’t skinny or blonde enough to pose professionally. And during her teens, she excessively yo-yo dieted to try to fit the mould.
“Back then, all you ever saw in magazines or in adverts were models who were blonde, stick-thin and absolutely perfect,” recalls Shauni. “But I’d always been on the bigger size. I’d start a diet, but soon, I’d just give up.”
Earlier this year, Shauni, 25, saw a casting call advert for models on Facebook. She decided to bite the bullet, inspired by the rise of plus-size models like Ashley Graham in global adverting campaigns.
“I ended up being signed to Monarch Model Management,” she laughs. “I still can’t believe it. When I get a call to come in for a casting for a job, I still have to pinch myself.
“But I think it’s amazing how the tide is turning. We’re not quite there yet, but we’re getting there slowly. Diversity is important as we’re all so very different.”
Mum-of-one Shauni, from Matakana, in Rodney district, says her “lightbulb moment” about self-love came after giving birth to her daughter Blake, now 23 months.
“If I heard my daughter talk about herself like I used to when I was trying on a dress, it would break my heart,” explains Shauni.
“I want to teach her that I’m happy the way that I am rather than trying to change things. We only have one body, and we can either nourish it and love it or down it and bag it. And now I definitely choose to love it.”
I’M PROUD OF MY STRETCH MARKS
Live Atkins is the first to admit that welcoming four babies in five years has changed her life in many ways, but there’s one way in particular she’s embracing her evolving shape.
“I’ve loved how my body has changed with each pregnancy,” the devoted mum-of-four tells. “You get those extra stretch marks each time and your boobs go down a bit more, but I have learnt to love my new body. I now like the fact that my hips are wider.”
But it wasn’t always the case for Live, 26, from Pukekohe, who admits that she spent many years before having babies struggling with her weight. She feared that having children would be a whole new battle with the scales.
“When I was pregnant the first time, I was watching those stretch marks grow and I was worried about how my body was changing,” she admits. “But in the end, I love that my body has produced four beautiful children. I am very blessed.”
The mum to Rusha, five, Sarged, three, Mustafa, two, and ninemonth-old Samar says that she now wants to show her daughters the importance of self-acceptance.
“There’s this expectation that mums need to be perfect after giving birth,” tells Live. “I exercise when I can and I eat healthy, but most of all, I try to show my two girls that I love my body. That’s more important than worrying about stretch marks to me.”
I love that my body has produced four beautiful children’