Influencer Alicia Mccarvell on how she went viral for being 'bigger' than her husband
'There was nothing meaner that anybody else was going to say to me that I haven't already said to myself.'
Alicia Mccarvell is opening up about the criticism she has faced for having a different body type than her husband — and how it helped her become a content creator.
In her appearance on the "What The Body" podcast earlier this week, Mccarvell reflected on how she "exploited" beauty standards for social media popularity by being "bigger" than her husband Scott.
The Canadian influencer explained prior to finding success in content creation in 2019, she aspired to do "something that made me feel like I'm having an impact on people."
It wasn't long before she cooked up the idea of sharing a "humorous" TikTok that compared her and her husband's body types.
"The trend was 'My boyfriend is 10 times hotter than me-check,'" she said before recalling that most couples who participated in the TikTok trend were seemingly "comparable to one another" and both "10 out of 10."
"I was like, 'OK if you want to see a couple that by beauty standards doesn't make sense, I'll show you one,'" Mccarvell said. "Because we've been dealing with that from the minute I became plus size."
She added: "To be honest, I've probably always been bigger than him and I wholeheartedly exploited that."
While the TikTok star worried her video would go viral for "the wrong reasons," it ultimately garnered praise and support from viewers who found it relatable.
"I was like, 'Oh shit, people understand what I go through on a regular basis,'" she explained. "That was the first moment that I felt not alone."
Mccarvell added that at the time, she was already "pretty comfortable in my body," and felt resilient to receiving negative criticism online.
"That was very helpful when things blew up because there was nothing meaner that anybody else was going to say to me that I haven't already said to myself," she confessed.
We've been dealing with that from the minute I became plus size.Alicia Mccarvell
In February, the Halifax-native took to Instagram with a set of photos posing next to her husband.
She paired it with an emotional note addressing the "cruel" comments she receives online about their relationship, including: "Girl, he's cheating on you," "He's too out of your league," and "Bro settled."
"I want to set the record straight: our relationship isn’t the problem, society is. Your relationship isn’t the problem, society is.
You are worthy, your love is valid, and society can pound sand, while you pound each other," Mccarvell penned.
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