A plus-sized model says strangers tell her she will “crush” her slim husband’s legs when she sits on his lap.<br /><br />Alex Aspasia, 28, is a confident 6ft and proud to be 21st 2lbs and a size UK 20.<br /><br />But she hasn't always been confident in her body - after being called a “beach whale” by a stranger in a bar and kept secret by men she used to date.<br /><br />She was also left feeling "unworthy" when an ex wouldn’t hold her hand in public.<br /><br />But after hitting a low she discovered her “worth” and vowed to never let anyone let her “feel that way again”.<br /><br />Alex met her now husband, Matthew, 33, a digital marketer, in Summer 2019 and the pair hit it off and tied the know in April 2022.<br /><br />Despite getting comments online saying Alex will “crush his legs” and that he is “desperate” the couple are "smitten".<br /><br />And she wants others to know they are “worthy of love” - regardless of their size or weight.<br /><br />Alex, a plus-sized model, from Miami, Florida, said: “People say I am going to crush his legs.<br /><br />“They say they hope the furniture is durable or that he’s desperate.<br /><br />“It’s horrible.<br /><br />“But we are 100 per cent smitten with each other.<br /><br />“I know my worth now.<br /><br />“Just because you are overweight or plus-sized it doesn’t mean you don’t deserve love.<br /><br />“I want people to know you are worthy.”<br /><br />In the past Alex has struggled with comments about her weight and although she’s still trolled, she now she has the confidence to ignore them.<br /><br />She said: “As I matured as a women I embraced my size.<br /><br />“I was called fat and felt a pressure to lose weight from my family.<br /><br />“Even in my 20s I was at a bar and some guys randomly called me a beach whale.”<br /><br />Alex had grown up not knowing many other women her size but realised she wasn’t alone after watching model Tyra Banks’ TV show - The Tyra Banks show - in which they searched for plus-sized models.<br /><br />It inspired Alex to go into modelling herself.<br /><br />She said: “I knew then that was something I wanted to do.<br /><br />“I set up a YouTube channel about being tall and big.<br /><br />“I was trying to find the other women who could relate.”<br /><br />Alex started modelling in August 2019 shortly after meeting husband Matthew on a dating app in early summer of the same year.<br /><br />She said: “He was friendly and open.<br /><br />“He asked me to meet his mum after the first week of dating.<br /><br />“He held my hand in public.<br /><br />“It meant a lot to me.”<br /><br />Matthew proposed on a rooftop on New Year’s Eve 2021 and the pair got married in August of the following year.<br /><br />She has put her bad dating experiences in the past.<br /><br />The mismatched couple get a lot of comments due to Alex’s size but the model says the “good out ways the bad”.<br /><br />Alex said: “I give plus-sized women the confidence to feel beautiful.<br /><br />“You can live your best life today.<br /><br />“I want to continue to work with women and continue representing for tall, plus-sized and bi-racial people.<br /><br />“And letting people know you’re worthy.”
