There she is…Miss Heavyset America?
Give her a break, says 2013 pageant winner Mallory Hytes Hagan.
The 24-year-old blonde beauty and former Miss New York is responding to various tabloid reports that she's packed on the pounds since winning the Miss America crown back in January, admitting that it's not always easy keeping her fabulous bikini figure.
"I think that I'm human…and I'd like to equate getting ready for the Miss America pageant, you know, to getting ready for a boxing match," she said during a recent appearance on Anderson Live. "We get into shape and then afterwards life goes back to normal."
The nasty cracks about her weight came after photos surfaced of Hagan looking curvier as she lounged poolside and at the beach in Hawaii on separate trips to the islands in February and again this week.
But the Brooklyn native was quick to inform viewers that her heavy Miss America commitments mean a curtailed workout schedule.
"I think a lot of people don't realize how much Miss America travels," she pointed out. "I travel on average 20,000 miles a month so every 48 hours I am in a different place just about. So it's really a challenge to maintain that same body that I went to Miss America with."
She also acknowledged that while it's all about living a healthy lifestyle, some days you wanna eat potatoes and some days you don't."
And in her mind, she's no different than a lot of other young women trying to eat healthy and stay in shape.
Case in point, a few days ago Mallory retweeted a message she received from one of her followers complaining about the criticism women get for having some extra meat on the bones.
"I just want to be left alone and be fat. Can't I just do that?!" wrote @Princess_Styes, to which Hagan replied, "Nope!"
Mallory, don't let the controversy get you down. We think you look great!