Plus-size model puts body-shaming friend in his place

“Imogen would be perfect if it wasn’t for her body.”

That’s how a friend of Imogen Ker introduced her to a complete stranger at his house party.

While the friend's “snarky look” suggested he was attempting to be playful, the plus-size model says she was taken aback by his cruelty.

“[It was] almost as if someone punched me in the stomach,” she recounts to Today.

It’s an unfortunate reality faced by any woman with a public profile and an internet connection.

However, Ker - who is also a doula and an aspiring midwife - is determined to empower other women to stand their ground and call out anyone who tries to undermine their worth.

“My greatest hope is that women who have experienced the same kind of abuse can read my story, relate and get angry. You deserve to be angry,” she writes on Instagram.

Ker acknowledges that while she’s a confident person, learning to love herself has been a “constant evolution”.

WATCH: Amy Schumer has some choice words for her body shamers.

“Most of the time, I want to love myself. It comes naturally,” she writes. 

“Then other times the brain washing of media takes hold. That brain washing has trained me to pick apart my body and tell myself if this was different or if that was different I would be perfect.”

By vocalising the same thoughts she made such an effort to silence, Ker’s friend had struck at the heart of her vulnerability. 

But she refused to hide that from him out of shame - and urges other women in her situation to follow suit.

“I know that the first reaction for some us is to shove it down because of shame. You experience shame around the fact that someone has labeled your body undesirable,” she explains.

“It is one of the biggest oppressors of women that has been systematically placed into society. 

“So don’t hold on to that sh*t. It will make you sick ... So what I did was take that shame and turn it around.”

Can we get an "amen" up in here?