Your Stories - Annie H

Content Warning: These stories contain mentions of body dysmorphia, body image struggles, pregnancy loss, fertility struggles and gendered violence. If you find any of the below triggering, please find a list of helpful and free resources below:

DV/SV: 1800 RESPECT

Mental Health: https://www.beyondblue.org.au/

Eating Disorders and Body Image Issues: Butterfly Foundation 1800 ED HOPE

Annie is cut from a different cloth and it’s the most spectacularly unique patchwork quilt that was hand-stitched to form her tapestry of multitudes. She’ll have you laughing before you’ve even worked out what you’re laughing at. She’s sparkly, vivacious, wickedly funny, and the sort of presence that pulls you right in.

There’s also a depth to Annie that you feel straight away. Life has asked a LOT of her (we’ll pre-order your memoir for sure), and a lifetime of overcoming and surviving instead of just living can leave your body operating on auto pilot, rather than somewhere you want to feel and experience it all. Old messages, old heaviness, old stories that have hung around far longer than they deserved to.

When she applied for our Model Call, it was on a whim in a moment of I DESERVE TO FEEL SEXY!! And felt like a turning back towards herself and everything she’d been taught to think about herself and how she can be as a woman. To live in her own skin again. To let herself be seen with softness and humour, without having to brace for judgement.

And honestly, the magic of Annie is how she holds all of it. She’ll have us in stitches one second, then give you these quieter moments where you can feel her settling into herself, just a little more.

When she saw her images, she was genuinely taken aback. Like she’d walked in expecting her brain to go hunting for flaws, and instead she met this version of herself that was glowing. We shed a few tears but I genuinely can’t remember if they were from laughter or otherwise.

That’s what I hope these photos keep giving her. Something she can come back to on the days her mind gets loud. A way to remember that she’s allowed to feel at home in her body, and she never had to earn that right in the first place.

Annie, you absolute gem. Thank you for bringing your sparkle, your humour, and your whole heart into our space. We adored you. And I’m so glad you got to see what we saw.