Rosanna Davison may seem like she is unflowing with confidence.
However, the model has confessed that an almost two-decade-old comment left her “heartbroken”.
She remembered the words a photographer told her after she won Miss Ireland as a 20-year-old after she spotted a comment on her Instagram.
Rosanna explained a follower had asked why she always came online with a full face of makeup on. And although she added there was no malice behind the comment, she admitted that it still stung.
“There was an incident a long time ago, I mean I’m talking close to two decades ago. I had recently won Miss World and was doing a photo shoot in London and the photographer said to me at the end of the shoot, ‘Oh you’re actually really photogenic, you looked quite ugly when you came in without makeup on’,” she told her followers.
“And I remember when he said it, I was what 20 at the time, I was young, I was in this whole new world. I definitely had imposter syndrome, I probably still do. I had issues with my skin in my late teens as well with breakouts.
“I wasn’t brimming with confidence having recently won Miss World at all. I remember sort of laughing along but being absolutely heartbroken and thinking that day when I got home, ‘Okay I never want to have these thoughts again about myself’.”
She went on to say: “Obviously, other people feel the same way and think I’m really ugly without makeup.
“So, if I just wear makeup all the time, never show my face without makeup out in public or to strangers and dye my hair blonde, really blonde, then I will sort of put a mask on and people won’t be able to see the fact that I’m actually quite ugly without makeup. That was my way of thinking as a 20-year-old.”
She explained that it is easy to forget the “trigger” that made her “change her behaviour”.
“It’s all a way of protecting yourself and protecting your wellbeing,” she explained.
She added that now she is always “photo-ready” in front of strangers “in case they make me feel the same way about myself”.
Rosanna added that she always shows her natural beauty to her friends and family, but chooses to wear makeup in public. However, she admitted that she wants to deal with it head on before it “starts affecting” her three-year-old daughter Sophia.
