ZestW

Fats Timbo, GLAMOUR’s Creator of the Year in partnership with Tinder, is a 26-year-old activist and content creator. She has more than 2.9 million fans on TikTok where she teaches fans about dwarfism and ableism with her trademark humour and warmth. Here, she catches up with Chloe Laws about disability activism, social media and her love of beauty…

Fats Timbo was born with achondroplasia – the most common form of short-limbed dwarfism –which means ‘without cartilage formation’. But Fats prefers the term ‘little person’ to describe her 4ft height. “It means that I don't have as much cartilage as the average person,” she says. “I have way too little cartilage, and that means that my limbs are shorter than the average person. But it doesn't affect my mental ability, and it doesn't affect how I move. I’m just shorter than most people.”

I meet Timbo at Vogue House, where we are filming her GLAMOUR Unfiltered, and she instantly brightens my mood with her infectious positivity. That sounds cliche, but I mean it earnestly -some people have a glint in their eye, and an energy you can’t help but smile at. Fats Timbo is one of them. It’s that sunny personality that has seen her gain 50.8M likes on TikTok, with her profile blowing up after she appeared on Channel 4’s The Undateables. A show which, at first, she was hesitant to go on (she rejected them, at first)- but ended up being a ‘lovely’ experience despite it not working out with the man she met through filming.

She’s in an orange dress, with a full beat of makeup (we bond over our matching tooth gems). Before we start the interview, I go to find her a lip gloss – NYX Fat Oil Lip Drip – so she can do those all-important touchups. Fats explains that beauty has always meant a lot to her. “Makeup is something I've always loved, from the days when I used to steal my older sister’s products. I like experimenting, I love makeup. It's a big part of my life.”

She attributes this love of makeup to wanting control over her appearance, telling me that “I can't control my height, but I can control how I look with my makeup. That’s why I take pride in it.” This desire to control the narrative of her own life, rather than have it written by societies’ outdated stereotypes around little people and how they should ‘behave’ has fuelled much of Fats’ career, and life.

Timbo grew up in East Ham, London, but was born at King’s College Hospital. Her journey, she tells me, started before she was born, when her mother went in for a 6-month scan. “They noticed that my body wasn't growing as fast as it should. And my head was bigger than my whole body. There's only two conditions that are associated with- Down's syndrome and Dwarfism.”

Her parents were given the option of abortion, but they said no, “My mum had already fallen in love with the baby. So, she didn't want to do it.” Timbo’s parents were incredibly supportive, both of her and one another. Her parents are nurses- her mum is a general health nurse and her dad was a mental health general ward manager for over twenty years- which she tells me helped with their understanding of her disability and mental wellbeing. School wasn’t such a loving environment. “I was called names like oompa loompa, dwarf, and midget. Being called these names at school really reduced my self-esteem. I hated life. My dad realised I needed counselling, and that really helped.” Her dad's professional experience within mental health meant she was lucky enough to have adults around her who understood what she needed, not just physically, but for her mental wellbeing.

“A lot of children didn't understand my condition. I didn't understand my condition, because I was a child and I wanted to be like everyone else,” Timbo says. Adding that “I faced a lot of stigma growing up because of my condition and a lot of discrimination on the street, people staring at me and people laughing at me. And now I know it's because people fear differences.”

Timbo started modelling in 2017, which has helped how she views herself and body: “I'm not gonna lie, I didn't want to look at myself in the mirror. I hated looking at myself..when I'm not looking at myself then I forget that I'm a little person,” she tells me, breaking eye-contact briefly. As we film the video segment of the interview, Fats’ second-guesses her answers a couple of times- a rare break in her bold, unwavering confidence. I can tell she’s done a lot of work to build a bulletproof shield of self-belief around herself; but, as is the case for anyone, there will always be momentary lapses.

The bullying Fats’ faced as a child, and the regular unkind stares and comments she receives whilst just living her life in public have had an impact: “Obviously, all the hate and discrimination that's been inflicted on me, it's still in my head. And it still has long term effects and scars, emotional scars, as well. The comments people have made about how I look and how my body type is because of dwarfism, they echo in my head sometimes.”

“I've tried my best to conquer it, by modelling and looking at myself more. When you're a content creator, you're looking at yourself every single day. I've learned to love my body because it's unique. It's something that most people haven't seen before," she says. I ask if it’s almost like exposure therapy, creating content, and she agrees- the more Fats’ looks at herself, the more she has become confident and content in her appearance. “I'm beautiful just the way I am,” she beams.

Fats’ has experienced fetishization as a little person and a black woman, which made dating hard and before her current partner, she hadn’t been treated ‘right’ by someone. Throughout our time together, Timbo mentions her partner a handful of times. Each time, her grin spreads. “Having a partner that is literally like ‘you're gorgeous’ every single day is very helpful. Very, very helpful,” she laughs. She met her partner on an online dating site, over three years ago. At first, she thought he was too good to be true, and ghosted him- but after some wooing on his side, she let him in, and learnt how to accept the love he gives her. He has cerebral palsy in one leg, and she tells me that helps as they understand each other's experiences of being disabled in a world that predominantly caters to able-bodies. They both love to dance, and in a fortunate turn of events he’s a videographer. Content creator meets videographer? Now, that’s a modern love story if I’ve ever heard one.

Her content, for the most part, isn’t directly political or activist. She dances to viral sounds, films GRWMs and makes comedy skits with her boyfriend about relationships. This approach is intentional. “As a little woman, people see me as a circus freak, almost. And I've shown people [on social media] that I'm just as funny, I’m just as smart, and I'm just as human as everyone else.” She finds that ‘preachiness’ online doesn’t always get the message across, but that her skits are a way to subtly influence and educate people. “I am quite a light-hearted person. The way I do content, people don't realise it's activism, so they [audiences] are less defensive,” she says.

She is politically minded, though. “I think politicians should pay more attention to disabled people that are trying to make a change and have concerns about certain things, because our complaints are very valid. A lot of disabled people are unemployed because buildings are not accessible.” She tells me that even if the building is accessible, getting there often isn’t, “It should be illegal to not have a lift at a station, because there's so many disabled people that get stranded. And, you know, the reason why [disabled people] are always at home is because it's a struggle to go outside. I wish they could consider disabled people a bit more.”

How has she found peace in a world that so often mistreats her? Timbo says the book The Secret by Rhonda Byrne really shifted her mindset as a teen, “it kind of broke it down for me. Yes, people might look at you funny. But as long as you know yourself, that you are loved you are a bad b****, then you can make whatever you want to achieve in life happen.”

This is an energy she’s channelled since, and the reason GLAMOUR has honoured her at the 2023 Women of the Year Awards in partnership with Samsung. What does this recognition mean to her? “It means the world to me. Honestly, I never thought I could ever achieve something this major,” she says. “I think it's amazing that I'm able to inspire other women to be who they are in this crazy world, but at the same time be unapologetically themselves. It's an honour. And throughout the years, I've just been practising being me and speaking up about social issues, disability issues, and women's rights as well. I'm glad it's been recognised.”

It’s this recognition that led to Fats’s debut book – Main Character Energy: 10 Commandments for Living Life Fearlessly – being published in April this year. Editor Madiya Altaf said “Fats is the main character I aspire to be! An absolute powerhouse of fun and encouragement, her commandments are exactly the daily dose of ‘main character energy’ we all need to hear.” Following the release she launched the Living Fearlessly Podcast- inspired by the books’ themes- which has had guests like Victoria Pendleton and Alastair Campbell.

From standup, to podcasts, beauty tutorials and viral skits- Fats’ is a multi-talented, ambitious, force. It’s modelling, though, which makes her feel the most empowered; “Everyone's looking at me, and I'm beautiful. I'm looking stunning. And I'm just fiercely walking down the catwalk,” she says. “I feel like my old self would have been like, ‘Oh, my God, you're doing that?’. And now I'm like ‘Yeah, I'm strutting my stuff’. Everyone's looking at me, because I look absolutely fabulous.”

As we’re finishing our conversation, I ask Timbo what she would go back and tell her 16-year-old-self. Without missing a beat, she tells me “don’t tek mi fi eediat”, before loudly laughing that we probably can’t run that in GLAMOUR. I assure her that we can.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qLjApqauqp2WtKLGyKecZ5ufY8Kse8Crq6KbnJp8p63TrGStoZ2XvG6zy5qkqK2iYsSwucSnZKieXam1pnnYnpirZZGsrrOw0mZpaWpjYravwMSrraKdpw%3D%3D