Aussie TV star Tammin Sursock has shared a moving message about the struggles with bulling and body image she faced as a 13-year-old girl.
WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW
Taking to Instagram, Tammin posted a smiling photograph of herself aged 13, and wrote an extended caption capturing that pain that hid behind that smile – the pain of a child who was relentlessly bullied by her peers, and the self-doubt that flowed from that relentless abuse.
Tammin, who has previously told New Idea that at the age of 14 she weighed 95kg, transformed herself inside and out in the wake of the bullying. But despite her weight loss, she cannot forget the cruelty of what other kids said and did to her.
The Pretty Little Liars star revealed the depth of her torment in a letter to her younger self, writing on Instagram of a scarring experience at a swimming pool.
‘Hi, It’s me, your future self, I’m standing on the sideline looking back at your ripe, fleshy, hopeful face and I know what happens when the arm of the clock aggressively hits its top pinnacle,’ she wrote.
‘The boy standing in front of you will break you. He will break your heart in ways you never thought possible. He will embarrass you as you feel the stares of awkward pre=pubescent males all stifling a hearty laugh.
‘Not only does he not have any giddy interest in you, but he will verbalize in front of everyone that you are indeed “FAT” and after he miniaturizes you, he will parade away.
‘I see that girl. She will spend your school years antagonizing you, she will make it her duty to beat you down, trying to suck from a straw any self respect you might have.
‘Not only will she steal your first real love, but she will celebrate it.
'But one day things will change. You will change.’
Tammin has since gone on to amazing success in the acting industry, and is a mother of two. Although her weight loss was a big part of her transformation, Tammin stresses it wasn’t about giving in to bullying, but about health and discipline and being the person she wanted to be.
‘You body will change,’ she writes, ‘not because you are mimicking perfection, but because you will regard it as a vessel that needs to be treated with respect.
‘I want you to know that you will be more than okay.’
