A plus sized woman who is obsessed with everything pink and girly says anyone can be a Barbie – and her husband loves her bigger body.
Alyssa Marie Anderson, 31, had felt like an “outcast” before she found the self-confidence embrace her curves and says "I know I'm fat".
Now she loves everything pink – filling her wardrobe with pastel tones, as well as decking her house in pink and green furniture.
She has a collection of 19 vintage Barbie dolls and loves dying her hair pastel colours.
Alyssa, who wears a size UK 20, used to hide in black and dark clothes but has now found the confidence to dress in colourful and bold outfits.
Alyssa, a professional make-up artist, from Long beach, California, said: “For me being a plus sized girl, Barbie was that beacon of beauty.
“Everyone wanted to be just like Barbie.
“I’m my own version of Barbie.
“Pink is the number one colour for me. My number one love.
“I have always loved being super girly and feminine.
“I still have a brain, I’m successful – I just look good doing it.”
Alyssa used to hide away in dark clothing before her husband Shay, 35, a HVAC technician, helped her find self-love.
She said: “I had put pressure on myself to look good for him.
"I spent years of trying to make myself into an ideal version.
“It never occurred to me that he loved what I looked like already.
“One day I said ‘why me?’
“He said I’m 100 per cent the body type he’s always known he wanted.
“Some people like bigger bodies.”
Now Alyssa “loves” who she is and what she sees in the mirror and can embrace her love of colour and girly things.
Alyssa said: “As a plus sized person I was told not to wear colours, or be bold.
“I always loved colour. I existed in a world where I wore so many boring clothes.
“Now I wear what I want.
“I challenge myself to wear the things I wouldn’t have worn 10 years ago.
“I get so many compliments now that I have embraced who I am.”
She loves everything Barbie but also has an eclectic wardrobe and loves to wear gothic clothes.
She said: “I love being girly and I love being a badass.
“I’m a plus-sized Barbie.”
Alyssa said she isn’t affected by strangers comments about her weight - despite people telling her to "hit the gym" and saying she is "overweight" and "not healthy".
She said: “I felt like an outcast for the way I looked.
"It helped with my wit.
"Strangers can’t affect my confidence.
“I know I’m fat.
“You’re not offending me by calling me what I see myself as.”
Alyssa wants others to find the self-confidence like she has with who they are and their body.
She said: “It’s never too late to love yourself.
"Everyone can be Barbie."
