Tess Holliday Says the Body Shaming Backlash Over the Past Month Has ‘Tested My Mental Health’

Tess Holliday has nearly made it through a month that has left her “exhausted” from dealing with body shaming comments from all over the world.

The model, 33, was harassed and criticized on social media after she landed the September cover of Cosmopolitan U.K. and accused of glamorizing obesity by U.K. tabloid columnist Piers Morgan.

But the mom of two said Wednesday that she’s “still standing” through it all.

“This month tested my mental health, but here I am, still standing, still grateful, still happy, still a fat covergirl… but I’m also f—— exhausted,” she wrote on Instagram.

Holliday shared this post with a nude photo from her photo shoot with SELF magazine.

“I know this photo will piss people off, it will be shared worldwide while being mocked and judged, saying how I’m ‘negatively affecting’ impressionable young minds, and I’m prepared for that,” she said.

RELATED VIDEO: Tess Holliday: ‘I Actually Enjoy Working Out’ — But I Don’t ‘Have to Prove Anything to Anybody’

Holliday said before she would have been bothered by those kinds of comments but now she is in a better state of mind.

“My body has always felt like a war zone, but I’ve made peace with that. It’s your minds that need to change,” she said.

Holliday said in the Cosmopolitan cover story that she used to struggle with her body when she was a smaller size.

“I’m at the heaviest I’ve ever been in my life now and it took me being the heaviest to finally love myself,” she said. “I was a US size 16 to 18 my entire life before I had Rylee [her first son, who she had at age 20]. I look back on those photos now and I don’t wish I was that size, but what I wish is that I loved myself 120 pounds ago.”

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Trish Regan Says Her Maternity Leave Was a ‘Mistake I Want to Make Sure Other Women Don’t Make’

What Trish Regan perceives as a mistake has become a teachable moment for fellow working moms.

The Fox Business Network anchor, 45, recently spoke to PEOPLE of her regrets about taking only six weeks of maternity leave after giving birth to twin girls Elizabeth and Alexandra, now 8. Even more shocking, Regan took only three weeks off of work after her second pregnancy with son Jamie, now 5.

“That was a mistake, in retrospect, it was a big mistake. I look back on it and for sure it was a mistake,” Regan recalls of her brief stints of maternity leave. “It’s a mistake that I really want to make sure other women don’t make.”

The mother of three, who was promoted to the primetime lineup in September, knows firsthand what it means to be “driven” in a workplace but she advises that time away from a newborn doesn’t always mean it’s time well spent.

“Make sure you take every bit of time because the reality is the job will always be here but that time with your child, you will never get back,” she says. “That’s important time for you as a mother. One of the things that is so important as a working parent is to remember: What are our priorities?”

RELATED: Women Who Delay Returning to Work Breast-Feed Longer

Regan adds, “The time they spend with their family is really important. I may have not made some of the decisions that I made [and] I can’t go back and change it but I can try to make it better for people I work with now.”

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RELATED: Co-Workers Gifting New Moms PTO to Help Extend Short Maternity Leaves — and People Have Opinions

But Regan understands the feelings new parents have when away from work with a new baby. Whether it’s being worried about losing opportunities or not getting first dibs on projects or simply not wanting to be away from their job for a period of time, the star wants women to think about respecting their own needs.

“There’s a sense of guilt you feel because you want to be able to live up to your responsibilities and don’t want to lose opportunities as a woman but I probably should’ve taken a step back,” she says. “Even if I brought the baby with me, it might’ve made a whole lot more sense.”

RELATED: Gabrielle Union Says Working Moms Face Discrimination

“What I try to reinforce with young women and men is you need to give people who work with you that space and that support. In many ways, as challenging as that was, the big takeaway for me was exactly that.”

RELATED VIDEO: Lindsay Czarniak and Craig Melvin on Dealing With Mommy Guilt and Maternity/Paternity Leave

More than ever, she has put her kids first. In September, Fox Business Network announced a new primetime business lineup anchored by Regan at 8 p.m.

The move prompted her and her husband of 17 years James Ben to rearrange their family time and be more strategic with their schedules that once was framed around her 2 p.m. start time.

“We thought, ‘What can we do to make sure our children have as normal [of a life] as we can, despite the fact that Mommy is working every night?’ For us, that’s family breakfast. We used to do family dinner every night at 6:00 at the table. Now we have family breakfast,” she shares.

RELATED: Louise Roe’s Blog_ The Realities of Redefining “Maternity Leave” in 2018

Every household may be different and every working parent may have their own unique alternatives, but Regan emphasizes that new parents have the same right to put their needs first.

“You have to be a little bit selfish and you have to be willing to be a little bit selfish,” she says. “You can’t be too hard on yourself. You need to understand what’s important to you.”

Adds the mom of three, “You want to be in an environment that appreciates you and part of that is your family and your kids. If a company, manager or boss doesn’t understand or respect that, then you need to think long and hard [about] where you are.”

Trish Regan Primetime debuts on Oct. 15 at 8 p.m. EST on Fox Business Network.

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