Lizzie Velásquez : “The World’s Ugliest Woman?” Not any more

Lizzie Velasquez is just getting used to the endless stares. “The World’s Ugliest Woman,” as she was dubbed in school.

“Once I got to about age 13, I kind of got tired of it,” said Velasquez.

“I realized I don’t really want a cure for this syndrome. If a doctor found a magic pill or some surgery that would help me gain weight, I wouldn’t want it. All the struggles I’ve made me who I am today.”

Velasquez was heavily bullied in school, and revealed that her elementary-school years were the worse.

“I felt like some sort of monster,” she said, recalling her first day of kindergarten. “I never told anyone how bad I was being picked on because I was embarrassed. When I would take a bath at night, that’s when I would cry.”

Velasquez was explaining how she has a rare syndrome that blocks her body from storing fat. Even though Velasquez tries to eat as much as possible, she’s just skin and bones.

“My stomach is so small that I can’t eat that much,” she said. “So about 30 minutes after eating, I’m ready to eat again. I snack a lot just to keep my energy up.”

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The Odds

Velazquez has a condition that is so rare that only two other people are known to have it. She has zero percent body fat, and has never weighed more than 60 pounds (27 kg). Although not anorexic, she is unable to gain weight and is required to eat many small meals throughout the day. Her daily energy intake of about 5000 kilocalories Compared with the US average of 3770. She is blind in her right eye which began to cloud over when she was four years of age, and has limited vision in the other. She has a weak immune system. Her condition is similar to many other conditions, especially progeria. However, her condition is not terminal.

She has some progeroid physical characteristics, such as the pointed nose and already aging skin, but she has additional problems beyond that diagnostic classification.

03LizzieVelasquez — Image credit & Copyrights : Ryan Towe Photography

She won against the Odds

But she didn’t let the bullying get her down. Instead Velasquez wrote two books: “Be Beautiful, Be You” and “Lizzie Beautiful.” Now the young woman delivers motivational speeches to young students across Texas. She even created a YouTube video titled “It Gets Better,” which has had nearly 2.5 million views since she posted it in 2010.

“I tell everyone, ‘Even though you don’t have my syndrome, you might be able to relate to the struggles I’ve had,'” she said, explaining how talking about bullying is therapeutic for her, too. “It’s kind of the grown-up version of my dad coming to class.”

The motivational speaker says in the video, “Any form of bullying really does hurt.”

She then explains that some websites even suggest that she should kill herself because of the way that she looks, but Velasquez is willing to take the bullying from strangers if she is able to stop bullying overall.