I Went From Skinny Ballerina To Plus-Size Beauty Queen — And I’m So Much Happier Now

Emily Diapre, a 24-year-old former dancer, used to make herself sick to stay skinny. Now, she’s a plus-size beauty queen.

Diapre, an event planner who lives in London, nabbed the Miss British Beauty Curve crown on Aug. 5. At her smallest, she was a UK size 6. Today, she’s a size 18.

The 5-foot-9 beauty is “ecstatic,” reports South West News Service. But it’s been a long road getting there.

‘I was obsessed with my eating’
Diapre, who began dancing when she was 3 years old, struggled with her weight for years.

Because she’d received a scholarship to her dance school, Diapre says, “I was encouraged to be skinny, and made to feel . . . like I wouldn’t succeed unless I lost weight,” she says.

To stay thin, “I would make myself sick and not eat,” she says. “I was obsessed with my eating.”

It made her miserable — and ultimately, it backfired. Eventually, Diapre had to stop going to classes because she couldn’t get through them.



Turning pointe

Diapre had to get out of the dance world, but she wasn’t ready to drop out of the limelight completely. So she decided to pursue an acting career, and began attending theatre school when she was 17 — and, this time, she didn’t let the pressure of the stage get to her.

‘People need to remember that healthy doesn’t mean skinny.’

“I told my teachers that I was going to be myself and that I had no interest in being a skinny ballerina,” she said.

For help with her anxiety, she turned to Mind mental health charity, which provides counseling for anxiety and depression. It was illuminating: “I didn’t realize how much my life had been overtaken by thoughts about food and what other people thought,” she says.

Crowning glory

Once Diapre reached her larger size, she wanted to show that being healthy doesn’t mean skinny. So she entered the pageant world in 2017.

“It’s helped me so much to join a like-minded family of women who are still active and healthy, but embrace their size,” she said.



Diapre went through four rounds during the pageant, which included a dance number, a “glitz and glam” costume portion, swimwear and evening gown competitions.

She’ll be representing Great Britain at the Miss International Curve Pageant on October 21 in Maidstone, England.

She says participating in Miss British Beauty Curve has helped her feel confident about her size — and she wants to use her crown to encourage other girls to accept their bodies, too.

“People need to remember that healthy doesn’t mean skinny,” she says.

“I don’t want people to think they need to be skinny. People can die from that.”

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