MUSCLE BITCHZ are better than Fitness Chics: January 2012

Jodie Marsh urges kids to fight back bullies
London , Wed, 25 Jan 2012ANI
London, Jan 25 (ANI): Jodie Marsh has revealed that she has been bullied all her life.

In a new documentary that she's starring in, the glamour girl-turned-bodybuilder is showing kids they don't need to live in fear and tells victims how to fight back.

But as well as helping others who have suffered, filming the show made Marsh come to terms with her own painful demons.

The 33-year-old says she has always been bullied, from her schooldays to her first shot at fame in the reality show Essex Wives, to her brief stint in Celebrity Big Brother.

"When I was at school I was bullied really badly and told I was ugly," the Daily Star quoted her as saying.

"That's why I decided to try to become a model - to prove I wasn't ugly,

"But when I became famous I was bullied again over my appearance, my boobs, my nose, every part of me torn to shreds. Horrendous things were said about me.

"I know I brought some of it on myself by wearing skimpy outfits and by being outspoken, but neither of those is a crime. So I'd been bullied as a teenager and as an adult in my place of work," she said.

But making the programme wasn't plain sailing for Marsh and she admits she was constantly left in tears by what she discovered during filming.

"I went into schools and talked to kids who were being bullied, and tried to help them. But emotionally it's been the hardest thing I've ever done. I was in tears every single day because I felt so heartbroken for them," she said.

"But I knew it was the best thing I'd ever done.

"I have been successful at what I do and 10 years later I'm still here and pretty much a household name in the UK. I wanted to show the kids they don't have to be beaten by the bullies. The kids responded to me brilliantly. They were so lovely and I'm still in touch with some of them," she said.

One family's tragic story particularly moved Marsh.

"The worst point was when we met a family whose son killed himself last year. He was 15 and bullied on Facebook. It was so horrendous," she said.

The documentary inspired the former model to set up her very own Twitter campaign called 'Delete And Block'.

The idea behind the campaign is that young people are often bullied via social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook but are too scared to delete the bullies, fearing it will only get worse.

"If bullies get deleted, they can't see you any more," she explained.

"You might still have to see them at school but at least they can't bully you online. It gives you back the power and control. If that boy who killed himself had deleted and blocked the bullies, he might still be alive now," she said.

Marsh herself hit rock-bottom after appearing on Celebrity Big Brother in 2006 and was the subject of taunts from Michael Barrymore, Pete Burns and George Galloway.

She felt so low that she even contemplated suicide.

"I thought about driving my car into a lamp-post and I really considered it at length," she divulged.

"I'd thought about how fast I need to be going to kill me instantly and how hard I'd need to hit the lamp-post, and which one was the best to do it to.

"I knew then I needed to sort my head out. I'd had a breakdown. But these days I'd rip them to shreds. That comes with age and wisdom and finding what makes you happy in life," she said.

And she discovered that bodybuilding made her really happy.

Her amazing transformation into a muscled wonder-woman shocked the nation and won her an army of fans.

"Bodybuilding has made me 200% more confident. It's totally changed my life from three years ago when I started," she added. (ANI)