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Heffernan: \u201cMy relationship with social media was quite toxic when I was younger,\u201d<\/p>\nWith her honeyed skin, sculpted abs and high-wattage smile, it is hardly surprising that Thalia Heffernan has managed not merely to survive but to flourish in the unforgiving world of modelling for more than half her life.<\/p>\n
What is more unexpected \u2014 and rather bracing \u2014 is that her online presence is not a seamless parade of filtered perfection. Recently the model and influencer posted a reel about struggling with adult acne.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do it because my relationship with social media was quite toxic when I was younger,\u201d she says. \u201cI was always striving towards people\u2019s best, most edited versions of themselves, without realising how unreal it all was. I saw an opportunity to be honest \u2014 to show young girls that it isn\u2019t all sunshine and rainbows, that life is challenging, and that I definitely don\u2019t always look as though I\u2019ve just stepped off a runway.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Heffernan, 31, from Dublin, laughs. \u201cDo I enjoy going online and showing my spots to the world? No. It\u2019s not exactly doing wonders for my self-esteem. But I do it because a young girl who isn\u2019t feeling good about herself might see that video and think, OK, I\u2019m not on my own.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the model, letting go of the pursuit of perfection is central to genuine wellbeing \u2014 far more important, she believes, than obsessing over nutrition targets or clocking up a prescribed number of steps. In fact, she is wary of the language of \u201cfitness goals\u201d altogether. At their worst, she says, they can become another stick to beat ourselves with: a source of pressure, anxiety and fear of failure, rather than a route to feeling better.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe language around it is all \u2018you don\u2019t have enough\u2019, \u2018you\u2019re lacking\u2019 \u2014 and it trains you to think, I\u2019m not enough, I\u2019m not doing enough, my diet isn\u2019t enough,\u201d Heffernan says. \u201cOf course, we all have wriggle room. But I\u2019m pretty healthy. I\u2019m doing my best. I\u2019m trying.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than any anxiety about her appearance, she says, there is another, deeper strand of perfectionism she has had to unpick. \u201cSomething I\u2019ve struggled with all my life is that I don\u2019t like not being good at things,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
Heffernan: \u201cMy relationship with social media was quite toxic when I was younger,\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can be a bit of a perfectionist, and I struggle with trying new things because I\u2019m afraid I won\u2019t be good enough. I\u2019m trying to stop doing that, because the narrative is wrong. Holding yourself back through fear, embarrassment, shame or judgment is something I think we do a lot, particularly as women. We live in a state of fear, rather than just thinking, f*** it \u2014 what\u2019s the worst that can happen?\u201d<\/p>\n
Quite. But rewind for a moment. Did Heffernan \u2014 fresh from a gleaming photoshoot as brand ambassador for the Irish tanning brand Vita Liberata \u2014 just say she has struggled with how she looks? Surely, of all people, she must feel at ease in her body?<\/p>\n
\u201cNo! Does anyone?\u201d she says, emphatically. \u201cI think learning to love yourself is a huge journey, but it\u2019s one I\u2019ve been navigating over the past few years and I\u2019m definitely better than I was. I don\u2019t love my body, but I am very glad of my body. I\u2019m very lucky to be healthy and fit and able.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heffernan began modelling at just 14, becoming known in the industry as \u201cthe girl who would go to work in her school uniform afterwards\u201d. At the time she was not exactly the prevailing ideal of the Grafton Street press-call era, all bikinis, blow-dries and pneumatic glamour.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came into the industry when glamour was the big thing, but I was not a glamorous girl,\u201d she says, smiling. \u201cI was 14, gangly, with long curly hair and not a boob to my name. I didn\u2019t fit that mould. But the industry was changing and shifting, and I was very lucky to ride that wave.\u201d<\/p>\n
After finishing her Leaving Cert, she moved to New York to model. There, despite being a slender size 6, she was told she needed to lose weight. After a successful decade working in Europe, she signed with the elite agency IMG Models and returned to New York in 2022<\/a>, but after 12 months she relocated back to Dublin.<\/p>\n