"The internet gets angry when they see a fat girl in a bathing suit or lingerie."

Plus-size model Tess Holliday is no stranger to criticism of her size and she takes every opportunity to advocate for women to love their bodies, no matter what.

Her stance has often made her a target.

Earlier this week there was a debate on the ABC special, Hack Live on Body Obsession, over whether fitness guru Ashy Bines’ recent attack on plus size model Tess Holliday was justified.

Bines took the opportunity to reiterate her criticism of Holliday, stating, “I understand that her message [is] to love yourself no matter what size you are, and I totally agree with that. But Tess isn’t saying, ‘I love myself here and I’m on a journey to be healthier.’ She’s saying ‘I’m a plus size model, I’ve got this many followers, I’m getting paid to be this size, this is okay’.”

Yet last night, Holliday shared her own side of the story and emphasise what it’s really like working in the plus-size industry.

Speaking on another ABC program, Naked As: Plus Sized Wars, Holliday said, “Yes I know I’m fat and I’m very vocal about that. For some reason the internet gets angry when they see a fat girl in a bathing suit or lingerie. They just can’t help it.”

“If I see someone being mean to me online I just ignore it because you can’t fight stupid,” she adds.

“I definitely think that there’s a lot of people jumping in on the body positive/plus size train. But they realise, oh, if I say that I’m body positive I’m going to sell something.Everyone wants to sell clothes and make money right? But it’s important to have the right ethics behind that.”

The highly publicised spat began last month when Bines attacked Holliday as “not a good role model” in an Instagram post.

“It’s sad that women who are obviously eating a lot more than what they need and not moving their bodies to be fit, strong and healthy are getting praise,” Bines wrote of 30-year-old Holliday in the original, February 2016 post.

Bines said any doctor who looked at Holliday would say she didn’t look healthy.

And while she doesn’t believe young women shoukd look to Holliday as a healthy role model, she thinks she’s a shining example herself.

“I think that I’m a really good role model for the younger generation,” Bines said.