Model calls out a photographer who told her to not eat for 2 weeks and walks out: 'Watch your mouth'

It's no secret that the fashion and movie industries have pushed unrealistic body image expectations on people, causing them to adopt unhealthy practices to achieve those manufactured standards. Many models and actors have spoken out about the punishing industry practices and the coercion to achieve these impossible. A Belgian influencer is now going viral for calling out a photographer who asked her to not eat until the next photoshoot scheduled two weeks later, so she could look skinnier. The model, who goes by Thewizardliz on TikTok, gave the photographer a piece of her mind and told him he shouldn't be telling her, or any other model, that and walked out of the project. "This is inhumane and dangerous advice," she said.   

The 22-year-old's friend filmed the incident and the influencer later posted it to her account. The video has since gone viral garnering more than 5.4 million likes and has been viewed more than 20 million times. She had been hired by a clothing company for a photoshoot but it appears the photographer had some issues with her look. The video shows Thewizardliz on the set of the photoshoot and appears to be talking to a photographer, who's not in the frame. The photographer appears to tell her to lose more weight in time for the next photoshoot in two weeks, and she's shocked. She told him off for suggesting she needed to change her body at the risk of developing an eating disorder. It was extremely personal for the influencer who had suffered from an eating disorder in her younger days. 

"You are very lucky that I love myself and my body. If there was another model who was standing here and is insecure about her body, that one comment you made can make her go insane. She'll literally stop eating, weighing her food, and her hair will fall out. Her organs can die. She can literally die because of that one comment you made. You should watch how you talk to people. That's not how you talk to people. I'm already very skinny and even if I wasn't you're not allowed to tell me what to do with my body," she said, before backing out of the project. "You're going to tell the client I'm not doing this anymore." When another woman on the set tries to intervene on the photographer's behalf, the influencer puts her foot down. "We're not shooting. We're not doing this. You can tell them why. You should watch your mouth because it can really damage them," she tells the photographer before walking out. 

“I am beyond shocked by all the love and support I received for this video. I really didn’t want to post it cause I felt like I might have reacted too harshly… but I am not doing this for me," she wrote. "I’m doing it for my younger self who developed an ED cause of people like this who constantly told me what and when I should or shouldn’t eat. I am doing this for every girl/boy out there who has suffered or is still suffering from an ED, for everyone who has been put down and didn’t feel comfortable speaking up.” 

She gave further context to the situation when she wrote in the comments, "The clients knew my size, they loved my look. He is only the photographer. The clients pay me. They are calling me non-stop apologizing." When some people questioned her for being 'dramatic,' she retorted, "This may be too dramatic for some of y'all but people are dying because of ED. It's not a joke. Things like this can leave a big impact on someone."  When some people tried to tell her to take it as 'advice', she hit back, writing, "Telling me to not eat is not advice! People saying I should take it as advice: my sizes are extra small. I am underweight for my height. I was trying to gain weight actually." She later confirmed that the client had fired the photographer from the project.