Sixtine Talks About Her Journey to Body Neutrality: “Faked It Till I Made It”

The TikTok influencer opened up in the latest issue of Cliche magazine.

Sixtine.Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Body neutrality influencer Sixtine is paving the way for creators who don’t fit the fashion and modeling industry‘s unrealistic beauty and body standards but also don’t need to be constantly posting content about loving their body and curves just the way they are.

The 26-year-old graced the pages of of Cliche magazine’s latest issue and opened up about what her platform means and how she’s navigating being a model and social media star

“I would define body neutrality as acceptance of your body, without the need to love it. Body neutrality focuses on accepting your body for what it is: a body,” she explained. “I can appreciate my body for what it allows me to do—dance with my friends, laugh until my stomach hurts, climb the millions of steps it takes to get to my New York apartment—without needing to love my so-called flaws. My body is not made for aesthetic purposes and my own purpose and worth doesn’t need to revolve around it. My body allows me to live my life how I want to and it doesn’t need to be more than that.”

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She’s candid about the fact that it took her awhile to get to the mindset she thrives in today—and like most teenagers, she struggled with body image issues and fell victim to “diet culture.” At some point, when she started to take off on social media and share her natural body, she just stopped caring what people thought. Sixtine knows her body is the least interesting thing about her—she’s constantly reminding followers of that fact—and she knows she has so much more to offer the world than just what she looks like. 

“The idea of thinness is shoved down our throats at every point as women, so it was an uphill journey getting here. I would say I faked it till I made it,” she added. “Prioritizing body neutrality over positivity definitely helped as well, because it forced me to take my body for what it is, rather than focusing on its aesthetic aspects. When I first started hearing about it on TikTok, something just clicked and I’ve never looked back.”

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The Texas native, who now lives in the Big Apple, made her SI Swimsuit debut last year—the rookie was photographed by Yu Tsai in Dominica—and it was certainly a career-defining moment.

“Honestly, one of the most amazing moments of my life was becoming a Sports Illustrated rookie. It feels like all my years of hard work, both with modeling and outside of it, finally has come to a point where it’s like, ‘O.K., I made it.’ And shooting in Dominica on my birthday was just the cherry on top of it all,” she gushed. “A quarter of a century of life, and that was how I got to celebrate it. It’s a moment I’ll never forget.”

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