Former Disney star Hilary Duff made headlines when she posed nude for the cover of Women’s Health, but now a slightly different version of the shoot is going viral. Plus-sized model Julia Berit recreated Duff’s glamorous photo shoot—and the internet loves it!
Berit: ‘I Wanted To Know What That Would Feel Like’ To Pose Nude
Berit was impressed by Duff’s steamy photo shoot, but wondered what it would be like for her—a plus-size model—to do the same kind of shoot. “I never saw somebody who looked like me in an editorial like that. And my first thought was, I wonder what it would look like,” Berit explained.
“I wanted to know what that would feel like for myself, being a bigger person who’s never felt represented,” she continued. “I mean, while [Duff] looks incredible, we’ve seen a lot of women look like that on the covers of things in swimsuits or lingerie or naked. And while it was still really powerful, it felt like there was a big lacking there that I wanted to create.”
Model Describes ‘Nerve-Racking’ Shoot And How She Is ‘Embracing’ Her Body
The model reached out to friends to help with styling and photography, and the photos turned out beautifully. In the caption of her photo, she wrote, “WE ARE REDEFINING STRENGTH AND GROWTH BABY!!!”
“I spent 9 years of my life trying to mold my body into something that it wasn’t,” Berit explained. “Now I am embracing my body EXACTLY as it is. If you know me, you know @hilaryduff has been my bigggggest role model growing up. When I saw the cover of @womenshealthmag + the message of redefining strength and growth, I knew I wanted to recreate these images!”
“There is no “before and after” or comparison happening here, just the celebration of different bodies being EXACTLY as they are!” the model continued. “we as women have been trained by the media to pick apart our flaws and be on an endless search for ways to ‘fix’ our bodies. to mold them into something they may have never meant to be in the first place. but what if we EMBRACED those differences instead of trying to mold them into all being the same!”
“I won’t pretend this shoot wasn’t nerve-racking,” Berit admitted. “but I truly could not have done it without the most incredible all-female team. endlessly grateful to you guys for helping me create this.” Like Duff’s own nude shoot, Berit’s photos have inspired the internet to embrace their bodies and their differences, even when it might seem scary.