ICYMI, Kylie Jenner has been doing a lot of good via her #IAmMoreThan Instagram series, and an aspiring Aussie fashion designer is the latest among inspiring people whose stories she’s sharing via social media.
Dungog teen Paris Marchant was just 14 when she quit school to deal with a debilitating mental illness. In the two years since, she’s got her life back on track and last year launched a clothing label with her boyfriend Lawrence Lees, which has amassed 157K Instagram followers in 6 months and been covered by several major Australian media outlets.
Sharing a screenshot of an interview she gave the Herald Sun about steering their Generation Outcast Clothing label, 16-year-old Paris captioned it with a message about her battle with depression and road to recovery.
“The demons were real and at the time I really did not want to be alive. I never thought it was possible to be happy again, or leave the small country town I was at. I was failing at school and for years my anxiety and depression ruled my life, how I felt. Who I spoke to, my eating habits, the way I saw myself, how I saw others. It consumed me in every possible way.
“Since leaving dungog and moving to live on the lake with Lawrence for the last 2 years I have been off medication and absolutely loving and thriving of life! Every day is a blessing. Since starting @__outcastclothing 8 months ago, I am a changed person. I smile, I love life. I want YOU to know you are more then what your depression tells you, you are worth more then a blade to your skin, you are beautiful and you deserve to be in this world, other wise you would not of been born.”
She tagged the post with #IAmMoreThan in the hope Kylie would come across it – and that’s exactly what happened today.
“This is so inspiring and you are so amazing,” she captioned the repost to her 40.4M fans.
Even Kris Jenner threw her support behind Paris, reposting Kylie’s post.
Paris, who has been off medication for a year now, has copped at shitty amount of flak from online trolls accusing her of using her battle with depression to boost awareness of her fashion line but she’s not fazed – so long as her message gets out there.
“People will disagree and when you become aware of that and don’t live with dogma and realise there’s nothing to fear – you just do it,” she told the Herald. “I think that needs to be talked about a bit more and people in general need to be aware there are other paths.”
Image via Instagram.
