A woman who was bullied at school and branded 'piggy' has managed to turn her fortunes around and become a bikini model.
36-year-old Diane Frick, from Melbourne in Australia, was teased by her classmates for her 'pimply skin, frizzy hair and bad clothes', but after seeking out some help from a cognitive behavioural therapist, she's managed to get herself to where she wants to be.
She explained how, as an adult, she wasn't 'massively overweight' but ate poorly and didn't exercise.
That's certainly not the case now, as she regularly enters bikini modelling competitions.
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Diane explained: "I was always a chubby kid and was bullied my entire childhood. The bullies in school made my life hell and I'd get called fat and ugly every day.
"I would get called names like 'piggy' due to being overweight. They made songs about me and would sing that I was 'fat to the bone' to the tune of 'bad to the bone'."
"I remember I was sick on the couch in late 2018 with the flu and feeling sorry for myself, when I started Googling all the girls I wanted to look like.
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"They were all bodybuilding competitors, so I started finding out more about that and eventually landed on a coach who prepped bikini competitors."
It turned out that the training regime and regimented clean eating fitted her like a speedo - handy, really - and she started to see results as time went on.
Eventually, she started competing at an Australian INBA (International Natural Bodybuilding Association) event in 2019.
She continued: "I never imagined I could be proud of my body. I would always wear clothes that covered everything and was so hateful and ashamed of myself.
"So for that bullied girl to transform, not only physically but mentally, and be able to stand on stage in a bikini and ask professionals to judge her body is massive."
It's been a huge success. She won the competition in last year, and now hopes to use her story to inspired others who might be suffering through the same things she went through.
She added: "I was crowned the overall bikini champion at last year's Australian INBA event.
"I couldn't believe it, and I was so proud of how far I'd come, both physically and mentally.
"I look so much younger now than I did before and people comment on it anytime they find out my age.
"It's true that sometimes you need to be destroyed to rebuild stronger. I'll never forget the way I was treated but it has definitely made me a resilient person."
Featured Image Credit: Caters News AgencyTopics: SPORT, Inspirational, Interesting, Australia