Some people might consider Elizabeth "Lizzie" Velasquez the ugliest woman in the world, but I think she's one of the most beautiful and bravest people on this planet. About 10 years ago, when Lizzie was only 17, she found a YouTube video of herself that lead to years of extreme cyber bullying, but being the awesome person that she is, Lizzie didn't let it get her down. Instead she's used it as motivation to make the internet a better and safer place. Oh and get this: She even has her own movie, The Lizzie Project coming out!
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Being labeled "the ugliest woman in the world" would scar most women for life, but not Lizzie. The now 27-year-old, who has been the target for cyber bullying since she was a teen, is a third generation Mexican American who was born with a rare condition that only two other people on the entire planet have ever had. It's so rare it doesn't even have a name! Lizzie has 0 percent body fat, she weighs almost nothing and is blind in one eye. Imagine being a teenage under these conditions?
"I hated my condition because it caused so much pain in my life. Not physical pain, but emotional pain. I mean, being a teenager is hard enough, but being a 13-year-old girl with this syndrome, who is blind in one eye, who weighs 58 pounds, and who is constantly picked on by people is almost unbearable," she told Fox News Latino.
But fortunately for Lizzie, with the years she has learned to finally feel comfortable in her own skin and has even managed to graduate college, become a motivational speaker and author (she just finished her third book which is set to release August 2014) and she's working on her documentary, The Lizzie Project.
"This is not going to be a movie just about my life," she said. "I feel like I've been given such a huge platform that I want to take full of advantage of it … My mission is to show that there's light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to bullying and I'm hoping to do that throughout this movie."
So far Lizzie has managed to raise $180,000 worth of donations towards the project and all in just 25 days. She even has celebrities supporting her. I'm just in awe of how this woman managed to turn her condition into a blessing. I don't care what anyone says–she's beautiful inside AND out!
Image via Thelizzieproject.com
