Bachelor Nation fans met runway model Chelsea Vaughn on Season 25 of “The Bachelor,” and she returned to our screens for Season 7 of “Bachelor in Paradise.”

As fans know, Chelsea was an established model before making her debut on “The Bachelor.”

She has walked in countless New York Fashion Week shows, modeled for major campaigns, and quit her corporate job a few years back to pursue modeling full time.

Now, Chelsea just got real with her followers about her journey as model after sharing some throwback photos from the early days of her career.

The Bachelor Nation star posted a photo from October 2018 and wrote “OMG who is this girl.”

She continued in a Story, writing, “I took this pic two months after I quit my corporate job to pursue modeling as a full time career. I was trying to get signed by an agency, and I was told by pretty much all of them that I was too old, too big, or that they ‘already had girls with a similar look’... AKA their Black girl quota was filled.”

Chelsea got candid with fans about how this experience impacted her mental health, sharing that she started counting calories, working out a ton, and weighing herself daily after realizing she could only change “one out of those three ‘problems.’”

Chelsea noted, “I quickly figured out that this was absolutely not something I could maintain. For the sake of my mental health and because food is seriously one of the best parts of life.”

The model shared that she’s in a much better place now and that she’s grateful for how far she has come.

Chelsea posted a photo of herself today, writing, “I’m so grateful to look at that picture and be a much more authentic, healthy, happy version of myself today. Grateful to have found agencies that accepted my old Black a*s in all of its glory. And most of all, grateful that I was old enough to realize that all of those people should go f*** themselves.”

Chelsea continued her post, saying that criticism like what she faced in the modeling industry has the “potential to cause so much harm on young, impressionable, aspiring models,” and she hopes that her transparency can help at least one person.

Fans reached out to Chelsea to share their stories, including one model who had actually met Chelsea years back during Fashion Week.

Chelsea posted the message she received, which said, “It’s rare to meet people like you in this industry,” and “You def inspire me and display the attitude that is needed in this industry. Models like you show me what is possible!”

Chelsea noted that this sweet message made her tear up on the subway.

We’re so glad that Chelsea is in a better place, we know that her sharing her story will help many others.