The eldest of three children born to Rita and Guadalupe Velásquez,[3] Lizzie was born on March 13, 1989, in Austin, Texas.[4] She was born four weeks prematurely and weighed less than 2 pounds 11 ounces (1,219 grams).[5][6]
Velásquez studied at Texas State University[6] until late 2012, majoring in communication studies.[7] She is a Roman Catholic and has said of her faith, "It's been my rock through everything, just having the time to be alone and pray and talk to God and know that He's there for me."[8][9][10]
Velásquez is medically unable to gain weight, which is a hallmark of her extremely rare disorder.[13] She has never weighed more than 29 kg (64 lbs), and reportedly has almost 0% body fat.[14][15] Moreover, she is required to eat many small meals and snacks throughout the day, averaging between 5,000 and 8,000 calories daily.[14][15] Additionally, she is blind in her right eye, which began to cloud over when she was four,[16] and she is vision-impaired in her left eye.[17]
Around 2015, it was revealed that Velásquez and another woman named Abby Solomon, with a similar but less severe variant of the condition, have mutations in the FBN1gene, which encodes the proprotein of the novel hormoneasprosin, and that this mutation results in asprosin deficiency and is responsible for their conditions.[18][19] The condition is specifically called Marfanoid-progeroid-lipodystrophy syndrome, or simply Marfan lipodystrophy syndrome.[20][21]
Career
Ever since she was dubbed the "World's Ugliest Woman" in a video posted on YouTube in 2006, when she was 17, Velásquez has spoken out against bullying. In January 2014, she gave a TEDxAustinWomen Talk titled "How Do YOU Define Yourself",[22] and her YouTube videos have received over 54 million views.[23] She is known for her optimism.[16][24][25][26] For National Bullying Prevention Month in 2015, she hosted a social media challenge for Bystander Revolution's Month of Action.[27]
Her first work, co-authored with her mother, Rita, is a self-published autobiography published in 2010 in English and Spanish.[28] It is called Lizzie Beautiful: The Lizzie Velásquez Story, and includes letters Velásquez's mother wrote to her as a child.
Velásquez has also written two books directed at kids, which share personal stories and offer advice. Be Beautiful, Be You (2012) shares her journey "to discover what truly makes us beautiful, and teaches readers to recognize their unique gifts and blessings".[24] The book is also available in Spanish as Sé bella, sé tú misma (2013).[25] Another book, Choosing Happiness (2014), talks about some of the obstacles Velásquez has faced and how she "learned the importance of choosing to be happy when it's all too easy to give up".[26] Both books were published by Liguori Publications, a Redemptorist publishing house.
Dare to be Kind, first published in 2017, is about the importance of being kind, gleaned from her firsthand experience being bullied, both personally and online.[29]
A documentary film titled A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velásquez Story premiered at SXSW on March 14, 2015.[30] The movie aired on Lifetime on October 17, 2016.
Velásquez began starring on her own Fullscreen original series titled Unzipped since April 2017.[31][32]
See also
Hayley Okines — English girl who had progeria and was the subject of television specials both in Europe and in the United States.
^Walker, Ken (December 31, 2013). "'World's Ugliest Woman' Proves That Jesus Makes All Things Beautiful". Charisma. Retrieved June 28, 2016. Raised in the Catholic parish where both her parents work, Velasquez's decision to follow Christ came near the end of high school. She credits her faith with enabling her to endure everything from scorn to physical infirmities. "It's been my rock through everything, just having the time to be alone and pray and talk to God and know that He's there for me," she says.
^Hart, Lucinda van der (2014). "Lizzie Velasquez". Premier Christianity. Retrieved June 28, 2016. I was born and raised in the Catholic faith and my parents have always been very involved in church and volunteering. It was always my dad's way of wanting to say to God, 'We will be as close as we can with you, volunteer and do what we can, as long as you help keep Lizzie healthy.' And so we did that our whole lives.
^ ab"The girl who must eat every 15 minutes to stay alive". The Telegraph. June 28, 2010. Lizzie Velasquez weighs just four stone and has almost zero per cent body fat but she is not anorexic. [...] Despite consuming between 5,000 and 8,000 calories daily, the communications student, has never tipped over 4st 3lbs.
