‘People call me ugly because I’m a size 22 – but I make £10k a month off my curves’
A plus-size model slammed critics who call her ‘ugly’. Danielle Gardiner says she’s definitely having the last laugh, as she’s raking in a whopping £10,000 monthly from her curves. In fact, she reckons she wouldn’t earn nearly as much cash if she was slim.
Danielle, 36, loves her voluptuous figure and says it enables her to work with major brands including Nike and PrettyLittleThing. Speaking to Fabulous, she revealed: “I get paid a fortune for being fat and I wouldn’t be modelling, or have 128,000 followers on Instagram, if I was slim. There are so many skinny models, I just wouldn’t have stood out.
“I charge around £650 for a modelling shoot and usually do around two a week.
“When I’ve modelled a bikini and shared photos on social media people have commented that I shouldn’t be wearing that for my size because I’m not ‘little or pretty’.
“I’ve been called a man, and told that I’m too fat to be modelling – all sorts.
“I couldn’t care less because my size is what makes me successful. I would never have made it as a model when I was a size 10.”
Back in 2022 Danielle, from Hornchurch, Essex, revealed she can pocket up to £10,000 during a successful month from influencing alone, plus modelling gigs which generate, on average, £15,000 annually on top of that.
The body-positive stunner also serves as an ambassador for Models of Diversity, a charity pushing for greater representation of different body types in the industry. Speaking about her influencing career, Danielle reveals she receives up to 40 products weekly, ranging from clothing and activewear to handbags, which she showcases on Instagram.
Each post earns her between £350 and £550, whilst a three-slide story brings in £350. Danielle explains she was a size 10/12 during her teenage years and twenties, yet had absolutely no self-assurance during that period.
She also acknowledges that joining the police force at 19 as a detention officer brought ‘overwhelming’ pressure to maintain a slim figure.
“I knew I had to stay fit, as my job was so physical, and I was scared of putting on weight and having to ask for a bigger uniform,” she revealed.
Danielle confesses she spent years ‘trying to be thin’ but ‘hated’ herself for it. At 21, despite being a size 14, she believed she appeared ‘massive’. Yet when she became pregnant at 22, severe morning sickness caused her to lose three and a half stone – dropping her to a size 10.
Whilst others complimented her ‘amazing’ appearance, the model felt dreadful and ‘more miserable’ than ever before. Following the birth, Danielle began gaining weight again, reaching a size 14/16.
Within several years, she had increased to a size 20. She acknowledges her self-esteem hit ‘rock bottom’ after years of attempting to stay thin.
Nevertheless, when her son Noah turned five, she noticed a Facebook advertisement for a body confidence workshop hosted by Miss Curvaceous UK – a plus-size modelling agency – and chose to apply. She revealed that the workshop taught her to appreciate herself for who she is, rather than her appearance.
Following the workshop, she took part in a competition for the title of Miss Curvaceous UK, and began sharing photos of herself in lingerie on Instagram.
She found this experience ’empowering’, and as her follower count grew, Danielle was approached by brands such as Boohoo, PrettyLittleThing and Missguided. And the plus-size sensation hasn’t looked back since!