Former model, Farmer Wants a Wife reality TV star Henrietta Moore’s Leukaemia Foundation’s World Greatest Shave decision
The former model who slammed Gold Coast ‘tits and arse’ influencers has undergone a shocking transformation to prove her point. SEE THE PHOTOS
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A GOLD Coast model-turned-teacher, who sparked controversy for labelling ‘tits and arse’ influencers as inappropriate roles models for teens, has shaved her hair to raise money for the Leukaemia Foundation.
Henrietta Moore said she wanted young girls to know they were more than what they looked like and that their looks should be “the least most interesting thing about them”.
Describing social media as an “absolute curse on the young generation”, Ms Moore said teenagers were being bombarded with images by influencers who stripped off their clothes and applied filters and it was making them desensitised them to their sexual content.
“I wish influencers would consider what their image represents to young women who are easily manipulated,” she said.
Before her hair was shaved to a number two at Stable Space in Miami, it was plaited into seven braids with each being donated to Sustainable Salons, the country’s largest charitable collector of ponytails. All hair is made into medical wigs for those with cancer or alopecia.
“I have such thick, thick hair that I was able to donate seven ponytails that will be made into wigs for those that need it the most,” said Ms Moore.
Raising nearly $3000 for the foundation, the 32-year-old said despite a “glamorous” career as a model overseas she had never been as fulfilled as she was as a secondary school dance, drama and music teacher.
“If you’re a student out there struggling, your teacher cares, the education system cares and we’re here to help,” she said.
“Every school has a guidance counsellor or someone to talk to. Speak up at your school if you’re being bullied, suffering at home or going through any mental health battles.”
COAST INFLUENCERS ‘TITS AND ARSE’ PHOTOS ‘TOXIC’ – MARCH 11
A TOXIC culture whereby Gold Coast influencers are admired and adored for showing their “tits and arse” is encouraging young girls to place their entire worth on their looks, says model-turned-teacher Henrietta Moore.
“We are now living in a society where people like Tammy Hembrow are applauded for getting their tits and arse out and young girls are looking up to them as role models,” the recovered bulimic and reality TV contestant says.
“Young women are being stripped of their innocence and childhood due to wanting to grow up so fast and look like Kylie Jenner.
“I want to say to young Gold Coasters, please don’t idolise these girls, some of these influencers are the most insecure I’ve ever met. It’s much better to be the smart girl.”
The comments sparked furious debate on Instagram.
“Okay but we don’t need to bring women down in order to lift others up. Have your opinion without straight-up bullying people,” clomoe wrote.
vanessahaldane_ added: “She thought she did something here … this ain’t it! We don’t bring another Queen down in order to make our point more valid! Do better.”
cams70177 offered the voice of reason.
“It’s the way of the western world, Kardashians are billionaires and scientists are on average wages.”
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Describing social media as an “absolute curse on the young generation”, Ms Moore says teenagers are being bombarded by images of beauty that have desensitised them to their sexual content.
“Girls in G-string bikinis at the beach, uploading it for their friends and family to see. It’s not even their fault. Their role models are young influencers that gain a following by stripping off their clothes, applying filters to their videos and images and basically not providing anything educational.
“How girls look should be the least most interesting thing about them.
“I wish influencers would consider what their image represents to young women who are easily manipulated.”
FULL DIGITAL ACCESS: JUST $1 FOR FIRST 28 DAYS
A Bulletin investigation last September found wannabe Gold Coast beauty queens were spending about $10,000 every year to maintain their Instagram doll look – and that is just on their face.
Throw in another $11,000 for butt lifts, up to $12,000 for breast implants and at least $3500 on liposuction.
Surgeons, medical experts and those women who have sought treatment said plastic surgery and injectibles had become such a craze that “a lot of people don’t know what natural or real is anymore”.
Women said the work was making them fit better into society, particularly the social media clique where Instagram influencers attract hundreds of thousands of followers and clones who want to look just like them.
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In the US, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons said the number of teenagers who underwent surgery doubled in eight years. In 2008 alone, it said 219,000 cosmetic operations were performed on those aged 13 to 19.
However, psychologists say the physical transformations were having a detrimental effect emotionally for thousands of young women.
Research suggested Instagram was harmful for young people’s mental health, and viewing pictures of attractive A-listers and colleagues on the social media platform had a negative effect on moods and body image.
Ms Moore says being on Farmer Wants a Wife in 2020, and having somewhat of a platform, she felt the urgency to start speaking her truth and be more mindful of her content on social media. Most importantly she wanted to encourage all women to find their worth inside.
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“Whether that’s sport, academia, jobs, creativity – anything other than looks. That’s not to say modelling is bad, it can be highly creative. However, it cannot define you.”
She says she understands many of the issues the younger generation are going through, having battled a horrendous eating disorder for a decade that involved binge-eating, bouts of anorexia as well as bulimia.
“Online bullying is rife in society, especially for the youth.”
Ms Moore, who is taking part in the Leukaemia Foundation’s Greatest Shave next week, says she is doing it to raise money for the “real heroes” who fight deadly diseases and also as a symbolic gesture of her leaving behind a life that nearly destroyed her.
As a teen, the “proud state school student” was made student captain at Robina State High School and competed in chess competitions, national volleyball tournaments and state tennis events. She says she barely gave a thought to her looks. In 2006 she was offered a full academic scholarship to study journalism at Griffith University and offered a place in the honour’s college where she would become an ambassador for the university.
“The world was truly at my feet, but I felt lost, confused and had no idea of what I wanted. I gained a lot of weight, emotionally eating during my first year of university due to family and personal issues.
A casual comment from her boyfriend’s photographer father that she could be a model “sparked” something in her and she lost 5kg in a week — 10kg within the month.
“I was petrified back then of anything with carbohydrates in it, including fruit. A friend in later years in London once said she didn’t take cough syrup due to its calorie density.”
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She was 19 when she first made herself vomit in Germany where she was modelling. It would last nearly a decade.
Her bingeing, at times, would rage on for three hours and she would consume 10,000 calories only for it to be brought back up. Surrounded by a “gaggle of girls” who also starved themselves, it was a rare sight to see anyone eat.
“We were all about diet cokes, black coffees and occasional fruit. I never ate unless it was a binge and I would throw it all up.
“I felt ugly and unattractive. It was this relationship where the bulimia went from being an occasional past-time to a full-blown everyday necessity.
“I would wake up early before my boyfriend or before I saw anyone as I thought they’d think I’m ugly if I didn’t look exactly as I did in my images. My Facebook account was very
popular. However, my real life sucked.”
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Night outs, gifted by club owners, were a “vacuous blur of nothing real” with friends saying “at least the photos look good”.
Ms Moore said it was deeply distressing to see teenagers becoming more and more obsessed with their looks, being encouraged by influencers to be more sexualised and objectified images.
“These kinds of images not only degrade them, but they are also subconsciously identifying with this version of themselves; and ironically encouraging others to see them in that way as well,” she said.
“Working full-time again has given me my voice back, and I want to use it to speak up to those bullies who lied about me online and raise money for an incredible organisation.
“I also want to become a role model to young women who also struggle with their worth in the world and how to navigate the online world they live in.”
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