Lottie Moss Reveals Body Image Struggles as a Young Model Growing Up in Her Sister’s Shadow

In an interview with ‘Glamour,’ the British model said she is ending this year in the best place mentally.

Lottie Moss attends the Dreaming Eli show during London Fashion Week.Dave Benett/Getty Images)

British model Lottie Moss has experienced life under public scrutiny since she was young. As the half-sister of fashion icon Kate Moss, the 24-year-old felt like she always lived in Kate's shadow and was constantly being compared to her.

“Back then, I didn’t grasp how detrimental it can be for your mental health in the public eye at such a young age,” she said in an interview with Glamour. “It’s hard when you have someone ‘close’ to you doing the exact same job as you, who’s already very prominent in the industry, but not having any advice or guidance.”

The younger Moss officially entered the modeling industry at 16, when she appeared in Teen Vogue. Just one year later, she was featured as a “star in the making” in Vogue alongside Kylie Jenner and Bella Hadid in 2015.

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“A lot of managers in the modeling industry realize you’re young and impressionable, and when you’re 16 or 17, they can mold you into whatever they want you to be,” Moss said, explaining that this triggered her body image issues. “They do not have your best interests at heart. They just think: ‘What can we do to pump the most money out of you?’”

Moss added that she felt an immense pressure to be “sample size.” When she first moved to London at 18 years old, she was given a stylist to revamp her wardrobe and a team of people who would comment on everything she ate. As the industry pressure built, Moss admitted that she fell into a depression. Agents made it worse by accusing her of being ungrateful of her position and success.

In 2021, she decided to take a break and moved in with her best friend in Los Angeles. Moss tried out posing and posting on OnlyFans and immediately the money began to flow in.

“It was about finding something where I could finally be myself and not only feel comfortable—which I hadn’t at work for so long—but feel empowered, too,” she said. “The modeling industry is so glamorized and OnlyFans is so villainized, yet OnlyFans is the only place I’ve felt this empowered and safe.”

Despite being ripped apart by the press and dropped from brand deals for her work with OnlyFans, where she has built a community she “loves,” Moss said she is ending this year in the “best place mentally.”

“When I think back to that vulnerable 18-year-old girl, who was told to get down to lose weight and was ridiculed for eating sandwiches, I wish I could tell her it’s OK to be yourself,” she continued. “It makes me sad that she thought she had to be someone else. I’ve only just started being the real me, and I love her. It’s such a relief to finally be my true self. I just wish I’d realized it sooner.”

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