Andrea's rebuttle to her online critics
I found this post written by CNTM season 1 winner Andrea Muizelaar discussing her abrupt departure from the fashion world and her struggles with anorexia:
My name is Andrea Muizelaar the winner of Canada's Next Top Model season 1. My story is a long one when it comes to CNTM but I will try to sum it up rather quickly in the next few paragraphs.
First, I will say though after being through hell and back I survived the road of being a model. No one seems to realize just the artificial and cut throat industry that fashion and film entail. I am forever changed because of CNTM and am forever thankful of it. I have been so lucky to have had such a strong sense of self to be able to walk away from the "glamorous" life of being a top model. I am not a quitter and want all those who read this to understand that. I had been trying to model on my own for five years (since I was 15) and had been emotionally and physically drained because of it. Once CNTM came around I became stuck between a rock and a hard place; 1)should I continue this unhealthy lifestyle of being stick thin, showing an artificial image or 2) should I accept this opportunity as it is 1 in a million? Of course at the time jumping at the idea of being on CNTM was the answer, like most would have been. The show was interesting; it tested everyone’s mind and body to the extreme on CNTM. Even the producers were simply wiped by the end of the show. I got through it though…..my eating disorder (anorexic in case you didn’t already know- for five years) was hidden due to the fact that well, skinny is modeling and it is really is okay for this business. Once home after the show I had a few months before the show aired and so I started to gain weight by working with a trainer so that I could be a good role model to women everywhere. This regime went great and my disorder was quite possibly going to heal over with a lot more work…..until I was declared CNTM winner to the entire world of course. Once my first photo shoot came about I was immediately told that I must not keep training and not build any muscle as long and lean is what makes a model and that’s the bottom line. Needless to say I heard this repeatedly and so again conformed and became a complete skeleton. This eating disorder and what it did to me after CNTM is one that I could write a book on as it nearly ended my life but the real reason for this group is for me to just touch on CNTM and what it offered for me and my future, so here goes:
1) Contract of $100, 000 was declared work so the government taxed me to the hilt.
2) I was set up with a tiny room in a woman’s house engulfed with city dirt, summer heat, no place to respectively store my food. In fact it was so hot that my granola was covered in white worms within three days. Oh yes, I paid about $650 a month for this place.
3) My modeling jobs didn’t pay near what the world thinks I would be making, i.e. a cover page and 8 page editorial spread in a top magazine offered me only $500…..and these jobs are rare to begin with.
4) I had an interview where I was taken out of context in regards to a judge on the show CNTM and was looked on negatively and bitterly by absolutely everyone that new this person. Pretty sad seeing as how I was three weeks new to the industry versus the other party of more than 40 years experience.
5) I was told what to say, do, wear, eat, where [sic] my hair, colour my hair, how to walk, etc and never got to be the Andrea Muizelaar that one [sic] the show in the first place.
6) I was given little to no free products, clothes, make-up etc.
7) I was paying for every expense imaginable, i.e. transportation, rent, portfolio pictures, comp cards, postal services etc…..without my even knowing until I got what little money I made three months later from the original time of the job with deductions included.
8) I was mailed letters from a pre CNTM modeling agency’s lawyer claiming I was still under a previous contract and owed money or else I’d have to go to court. This mess was supposed to have been avoided when my parents and I spoke to City TV of the risk of such an event way before the show aried, and City TV said, “If this agency does anything our lawyers will squash it like a bug.”…..Well, I told City TV of the problem and they say now “deal with it, it is your problem”….I now have a lawyer and either way my hard earned money (what is left) is being drained
9) I moved out of the confined room and was placed in a man’s house where I had to live with mice in another small room. What started off as a few mice turned into utter filth where mice were everywhere….running under me as I ate, s****ing on my pillow as I slept. I again was forced to move. Yep I was paying $650 each month as well to live there. I moved to a final location where I was in an apartment building on one of the most dangerous streets in Toronto where I lived with cockroaches, drug dealers, prostitutes etc. for this awesome new residence I paid $675 plus hydro, cable, etc etc.
Well, I could honestly go on for a lot longer and depending on how many people are interested in my story should I consider writing a book.
Keep in mind with all I mentioned above I am lucky on so many things, i.e. I didn’t get raped and killed while walking the streets of T.O. alone; or the fact that I was a clean cut kid who wasn’t interested in drugs or the party scene (which is a huge part of this business)
To conclude the above I will note though that I am home after 8 months of hell, I work at a bank, I am a healthy, healthy girl who eats tons of food and looks the womanly self I should look like, never again touching a weigh scale, measuring tape etc., I am starting to become social for the first time in a long time due to my illness etc., I am attending college for Business Administration, and bottom line………..I AM HAPPY! Happy and healthy and proud of my success story! Anyone who still has negative comments on this decision well, all I can say is “Don’t judge a person until you’ve walked a mile in there [sic] shoes.”
Andrea goes on to post this additional message...
i thought i'd share something.....last weekend i went through my closet and had to throw away two full garbage bags of clothes that were too small....i didn't shed a tear either...this is something i never thought i would ever have to do in my life...ever....the thought never occured to me that i would be ever be bigger than my skinny self.....the clothes i threw out ranged from a girls large to a womans zero.....now i am around 6....and guess what? i don't care if i go above that as long as i know i am eating right and exercising moderately
okay i didn't actually throw the clothes away....i donated them of course to Goodwill.....yes i still go there....love it too;-)
Also here's a new pic of *vomits in mouth a bit* Mo: