How 'the world's ugliest woman' beat her haters

LIZZIE Velasquez was once cruelly labelled 'the world's ugliest woman'. Now 24, she's telling everyone how she beat the haters who told her to commit suicide.

WHEN Lizzie Velasquez was still in high school, she found a YouTube video called "The World's Ugliest Woman" online.

The clip, which had been viewed more than four million times, was eight seconds long and featured nothing more than a photo of her face. Underneath were thousands of comments abusing and ridiculing her, with some people saying she should commit suicide.

That would be enough to destroy the self-esteem of many teenagers. Not Ms Velasquez though. Now a 24-year-old motivational speaker, she's telling everyone how she beat the haters.

News_Image_File: Ms Velasquez speaking in Austin, Texas.

Ms Velasquez, who has never weighed more than 29 kilos, was born with an incredibly rare condition which causes her to have a hyperactive metabolism and prevents her from gaining any weight. She's also blind in her right eye.

How rare is this condition, exactly? Only two other people in the world are known to suffer from it.

Ms Velasquez recently shared her story at a TED Talk in Austin, Texas. She talked about her reaction to the YouTube clip, and the cruel comments underneath it.

"I cried my eyes out of course, and I was ready to kind of fight back, and something kind of clicked in my head and I thought 'I'm just going to leave it alone'," Ms Velasquez said.

"I could be grateful and open my eyes and realise the things that I do have, and make those the things that define me," she said. "I can't see out of one eye, but I can see out of the other. I might get sick a lot, but I have really nice hair."

News_Image_File: She's right. She does have nice hair.

"Am I going to let the people who called me a monster define me? No. I'm going to let my goals and my success and my accomplishments be the things that define me."

Ms Velasquez's speech is on YouTube, and it's definitely worth watching if you have a few spare minutes.

News_Rich_Media: Lizzie's TED talk

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