Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Tess Holliday says she "broke into tears" after being asked to cover Cosmopolitan.
The 33-year-old model said in an interview Thursday with BBC journalist Victoria Derbyshire that it "meant a lot" to land the October cover of Cosmopolitan U.K.
"I broke into tears and said, 'Are you kidding?'" Holliday recalled.
"I absolutely cried because a magazine like that has never put someone like me, like an actual fat body, on the cover," she explained. "It not only meant a lot to me but the work that I'm doing, which will therefore impact millions of bodies that look like mine."
Cosmopolitan U.K. unveiled Holliday's cover Tuesday on social media. The model reacted in a tweet the next day.
"Phew, I'm literally a COSMO GIRL!! Can't believe I'm saying that!" she wrote. "Thank you @CosmopolitanUK for this incredible opportunity. If I saw a body like mine on this magazine when I was a young girl, it would have changed my life."
Holliday said in the cover story she's at the heaviest she's ever been.
"I was a U.S. size 16 to 18 my entire life before I had [my son] Rylee," the star said. "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."
"It took me being the heaviest to finally love myself," she added.
Holliday is known for her modeling work with Torrid, Benefit Cosmetics, Sea by Monif C and H&M.
