'I want people to be happy in their skin'

Demi Sims on her long journey to accepting |her vitiligo and wanting to inspire others

- GEORGIA TREVITT

Demi Sims oozes confidence from the moment she arrives for our shoot – but it hasn’t always been that way. The 26-year-old was diagnosed with the skin condition vitiligo when she was 16, which she says was “devastating”.

It left her crying and she often felt unable to leave the house. She admits she would use body makeup and do heavy edits on her photos to hide her vitiligo.

But now, Demi finally feels comfortable in her skin after learning to love her patches.

“It’s been baby steps but I’m finally here and I’m so happy about it,” she says.

Demi is proud to bare all for the first time in our powerful photos – and even plucks up the courage to pose nude.

“I’ve never done anything like this,” she tells new. “I’ve posted pictures on social media but it was different standing in front of the camera. And without my clothes on! I’m proud of myself.”

Demi discovered she had vitiligo during a girls’ holiday and instantly knew what it was, as her nan also has the condition.

After years of trying to treat it, Demi tells us she became “exhausted” and “gave up”. From that moment, she began to accept her vitiligo and decided to bravely share it by posting her first unedited picture. “It blew up,” she says. “People were saying they were proud of me – it made me feel so good.”

Demi, who found fame on TOWIE in 2018, then wanted to educate people, admitting they would recognise her from TV and “stare”. She quit the ITVBe show earlier this year but is about to return to our screens in her new OnlyFans TV series, House Of Sims, alongside sisters Chloe and Frankie and brother Charlie.