Ever since her debut in a German tabloid, her fame has extended beyond her popularity in Romania. She’s all the rage on internet viral videos. She’s got feminists and body-sensitive bloggers complaining of her own negative self-image which is supposedly infecting women everywhere with envy. But Iona’s self-image isn’t so bad. Admittedly, she felt self-conscious as a teen, when her previously normal dimensions grew into the mere 15 inch waist, which could be easily encircled by two hands. Teen angst is not in itself remarkable, and she has become ever more comfortable over her self-image after her marriage in 2006, when her husband convinced her to pursue a modeling career. Perhaps being happy with being herself is good enough?
After all, despite popular skepticism, she didn’t choose this figure. “No one seems to believe it,” she says, “but every day I eat three big meals and I snack on chocolate and crisps all the time. I just have a small stomach. It’s a bit like a gastric band, if I eat too much, I feel sick.” She’s had no surgery, no diets, no exercise, doesn’t even use a corset.
It was her husband who “was the first person who saw me as beautiful,” she explains. When he posted her pictures on the internet, “the response was amazing.” So, despite the self-image police who mandate that you can only be a model if you are average, many are taking Iona Sapangenberg not as some ideal image all women should aspire to, but merely a unique woman with a unique body who is proud of her image and willing to share it with the world.