Queensland model Bree Warren says sport helped her find the confidence to make it as a plus-size model

QUEENSLAND model Bree Warren says the body confidence she gained as a teen basketball star helped her overcome several shocking incidents as a plus-size model.

Bree Warren. Picture: Women’s Health magazine

QUEENSLAND model Bree Warren says the body confidence she gained as a teen basketball star helped her become one of the world’s most sought-after plus-size models.

The 30-year-old New York-based model, who turned down college basketball in the US to pursue modelling, told Women’s Health magazine her success as a curvy model involved overcoming incidents such as “having a tape measure waved in my face at dinner” and being told “to go eat some burgers” before she could work.

Bree Warren features in the June issue of Women's Health magazine.

“I’ve had both extremes,” she told the magazine’s June issue, which hits stands today.

“Playing sport gave me a good work ethic and resilience, which has definitely come in handy in my modelling career. and also helps in being confident with your body — you know your body is a means to do a lot.

“Then, going into modelling, I could see the detrimental effect that it can have when you’re not confident.”

The June cover.

Warren, who played national level basketball, netball and water polo during her teen years, signed to Brisbane agency Dallys Models at the age of 22 and relocated to New York at 25.

Her first work trip was to Paris, she shot a Lorna Jane campaign on a Hollywood rooftop and last year shot a Tigerlily Surf collection in Tahiti.

Her body positive Instagram page, in which she divulges the size of the bikini she wears, has seen brands she never expected — including Seafolly and Duskii — reach out via her social media channels.

“The fashion industry has been dominated by one size for so long and I think people find it really refreshing to see a body like mine represented,” Warren said.

“Things are really changing.”

Warren is currently home in Noosa, where she and her photographer fiance Mitch McCann, with whom she runs travel blog The Wave Provocateur, recently purchased a house.

See the magazine’s June edition