No matter what size you are, Hayley Hasselhoff has the same message: You are beautiful.
From the age of 14 when she became a curve model, Hayley had a front-row seat to the fashion world that didn't always make every woman feel welcomed. More than a decade later, the 28-year-old actress and podcast host argues there is still work to be done.
Before launching her new podcast titled Redefine You: A Conversation For Wellbeing, Hayley opened up to E! News about her career and the change she hopes to see in the future.
"I think the most important thing for me is size inclusivity and representation," she exclusively shared with E! News. "You know you want to be able to see yourself represented in the store and whether that comes through diversity or size, it's one of the things where you want to be able to walk into a store and feel like they are designing for you because they have you in mind and are welcoming you and I don't think that that is at a place just yet."
Hayley continued, "There are amazing high-street brands who have opened up their size ranking, but they don't have them on the floor, or if they do, it's a small rock in the back. You want to be able to say that I'm just as valued as a customer to buy here and to celebrate myself through fashion as anybody else no matter what shape or size I'm at."
In her teenage years, Hayley served as a spokesmodel for Torrid. When looking back at that time, she admits that the media wasn't talking about curves or placing plus-size models on the covers of prestigious magazines.
But as the first curve model to appear on the cover of European Playboy, Hayley can't help but acknowledge some progress has been made.
"We all knew that we were doing this for a bigger purpose," she explained when reflecting on the photo shoot. "To be able to have women see that they're valued, seen or heard, loved, adored and wanted no matter what shape or size they are. That society's standards of beauty are finally being broken."
As part of her new podcast launching June 24, Hayley plans to talk about her work with body activism. But for this project, she's putting the focus on mental health and being the best version of yourself.
"I've done so much work in the body activism world, but a couple of years ago, I had this shift where the connectivity between body image and mental health and how my reflection of my body image was always poor when my mental health wasn't on track," she explained. "So, I wanted to flip the conversation."
"When the coronavirus pandemic hit, I went from traveling all over to a standstill and I needed to create something," Hayley continued. "I wanted to use my voice for purpose."
According to the curve model, growing up has brought a unique set of lessons and experiences. But if she could go back to that young teenager struggling to find clothes, the message is clear.
"I always just say, ‘Trust yourself. Trust yourself and know that you are worthy in that space,'" she explained. "I look back at myself and I think one of the biggest things that I think is very relatable to a lot of people is missing out on milestone moments or parties or birthdays or whatever it may be because of your lack of self-love towards your body and it breaks my heart to think of, you know, younger Hayley not living her life to the fullest because she thought, or had an idea of what her body was."
"Go live your life," Hayley shared. "Your body is beautiful just right now and the more that you start to be able to live in a state of acceptance, the more that you start to take the power and the ownership for yourself again."