Former Victoria's Secret Angel Bridget Malcolm. Photo / TikTok
Former Victoria's Secret Angel Bridget Malcolm. Photo / TikTok
Australian Victoria's Secret model Bridget Malcolm has revealed the shocking truth about her skimpy bra during the now axed runway show.
The former Victoria's Secret model has opened up about the heartbreaking truth behind one of her most famous runway appearances.
Bridget Malcolm is an Australian model originally from West Fremantle who walked the runway as an "angel" for the lingerie brand in 2015 and 2016.
She also appeared in the pages of Playboy and Harper's Bazaar and for fashion labels like Ralph Lauren and Stella McCartney.
But in 2018 Bridget Malcolm revealed she had been "battling an eating disorder and chronic anxiety" that had been fuelled by the pressure she felt to maintain a small size.
Bridget wearing the bra in the 2016 Victoria's Secret show (left). Bridget tried on the bra in the video - and her face says it all (right). Photos / Getty Images, TikTok
In a TikTok video posted over the weekend that's been viewed more than 1.6 million times Bridget, now 29, shared the bra she had worn during her last Victoria's Secret appearance.
"I found my bra from the 2016 Victoria's Secret fashion show," she captioned the video. "It is a size 30A (8A), I am now a size 34B (12B) which is healthy for me."
Bridget tried on the bra in the video and shared photos of her from the 2016 show to contrast just how differently it fitted.
"Look how big it was on me, the sadness behind my eyes from the 2016 show breaks my heart," she said.
Bridget claims she was later "rejected" from the 2017 Victoria's Secret Show and told "my body did not look good enough". She was an 8B bra size at the time.
Her video got hundreds of comments from viewers who said they were glad to see Bridget looking "so happy and healthy" now.
"I used to look at you and think I wish I looked naturally how she does," one person wrote. "You never know what's going on behind the curtain."
"OMG this is so sad, you are so beautiful," another commented.
In 2019 the Victoria's Secret Show was cancelled amid growing backlash over the brand's management and lack of body diversity.
Current and former executives, models and employees also spoke out about a misogynistic corporate culture.
This month the brand revealed it had axed its angels and would instead have a VS Collective as ambassadors for the brand which included women such as actress Priyanka Chopra and soccer star Megan Rapinoe.
'My hair was falling out'
In March 2018, Bridget shared a blog post apologising for publicising her diet and lifestyle online.
"I now know that I was completely in the depths of body dysmorphia and it really worries me that I was not a positive role model out there," she wrote.
In a piece Bridget wrote for Harper's Bazaar later that year, she revealed how her eating disorder had left her "so underweight that it would take me 10 minutes to climb a flight of stairs".
Today Bridget is a mental health advocate as well as a model. Photo / Instagram
"I was tired, often going to sleep at 8pm because I had no energy. My hair was falling out," she wrote.
Bridget said she had been "battling an eating disorder and chronic anxiety that would soon lead to a ruined digestive system" but hadn't known it at the time, thinking instead it was what she needed to do "to succeed in the industry that I love".
It was only when Bridget began seeing a therapist that she realised how "physically and emotionally" damaged her life was.
Bridget has also been diagnosed with Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) a condition that sees sufferers have extreme depression, anxiety or irritability one to two weeks before their period.
