Mother and daughter stripping

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'Mum and I love flashing or flesh for cash!'

Monday 01 December 2008

Most mums would be horrified if their daughter tipped the scales at 25st, but Cathy Jackson couldn’t have been happier. In fact, she even encouraged her morbidly obese daughter Leah to celebrate her size 28 frame by posing for erotic pictures.

Cathy, 45, who weighs 33st, started selling photos of her own body to men who find overweight women attractive six years ago. And when the mum-of-one later launched her own website, she happily let Leah strip off for sexy photo shoots – earning the pair a fortune from subscribers.

But Leah, 27, has now quit modelling to marry her deeply religious boyfriend – and is desperately trying to lose weight so she can start a family. Amazingly, she has no regrets about her modelling days.

“I’m not ashamed – my fat earned me a fortune,” says Leah, who’s 5ft 6. “And I’m certainly not embarrassed that Mum’s still modelling. She’s got a fantastic 58C bust and 6ft round belly – she’s a whole lotta woman!”

Cathy fell pregnant with Leah when she was just 16, and raised her alone after splitting with her boyfriend. She was already 19st, thanks to a 9,000-calories-a-day diet.

“I went up to 22st by the time I was 21, but I was happy with my size,” says 5ft 6 Cathy. She raised Leah on takeaways, crisps and chocolate but, shockingly, says she didn’t know it was unhealthy at the time.

“I now realise I should have tried to give Leah a healthier diet, but as a single mum I struggled to find time to cook,” says Cathy. By the time she was 11, Leah weighed 13st – over twice the average of 51⁄2 st for that age but, incredibly, she’s never blamed her mum.

Leah says: “I was bullied at school, but I didn’t see the point in dieting because Mum was fat too. I just thought it was in my genes.”

By the time Leah left school at 18 to work as an insurance agent, she was a size 24 and weighed 19st.

“I was happy with my size,” insists Leah, who lives in Atlanta, USA. “And I never struggled to find boyfriends.”

Cathy was single until five years ago, when she married photographer Dave Hobson, 39. They met on a website for men who like big women and, with Dave’s encouragement, Cathy entered a Big Beautiful Woman pageant in January 2002 – and won.

“At the competition I was asked to pose for an erotic website featuring big women,” says Cathy. “I really enjoyed it and got paid £35 per photo. I quit my job when I realised I could double the £18,000 salary I earned as a childminder.

“At first I posed in my underwear, then I progressed to naked shots, covering my boobs and relying on my tummy to obscure my vagina. I was nervous, but it wasn’t long before my confidence grew.”

Then, in 2003, Cathy and Dave, who weighs 16st, set up their own website. Cathy says: “I focused on women who were over 25st, and started recruiting models. Dave took the photos, and within weeks we had over 500 subscribers.”

Soon, thousands of men from all over the world were signing up. The subscription fee started at £12 a year, and the site earned Cathy over £50,000 in the first year.

Impressed by her mum’s success, in January 2006 Leah told Cathy she wanted to model for the site. Leah says: “I thought the cash would come in handy. Mum was worried I’d regret it, but I persuaded her to let me try it.”

Cathy says: “I was nervous and kept thinking ‘This is my little girl’. Dave took the photos though, which made us all feel relaxed. I knew he wasn’t perving at her.”

Surprisingly, Leah wasn’t embarrassed. “Mum’s always told me to be proud of my body, and I didn’t mind my stepdad doing the shots because he’s a great photographer,” she says.

Cathy posted Leah’s pictures on her site, and was inundated with requests for more. “Our membership rocketed,” says Cathy. “We did receive lewd comments from some of her fans, which disgusted me, but I just deleted them.”

Soon Leah was doing nude shots. Her fans loved her 46C chest and her 5ft round belly. Leah says: “Some people think it’s disgusting, but it’s a celebration of being big and beautiful. Plus I made £15,000 in a year.”

But in August 2007, Leah gave up modelling after falling in love with 39-year-old devout Catholic Conley Henley, a recruitment manager.

Leah says: “Conley didn’t force me to give it up – we just both knew it was the right thing to do. But I do miss the money!”

Leah and 6ft Conley, who weighs 141⁄2 st, got married 10 days ago and are desperate to start a family – but doctors have told Leah she must lose weight first.

She says: “They said the thinner I am, the easier it is to conceive. I’ve lost 3st since the beginning of this year, but I want to lose another 4st to reach 18st.

“Before I met Conley I was eating 8,000 calories a day. I’d have waffles covered in cream for breakfast, pasta in a cream sauce, four packets of crisps and chocolate cake for lunch, and steak with mashed potato for dinner followed by more cake.

“Now I have cereal for breakfast, salad for lunch and grilled chicken with steamed veg for dinner. I rarely eat more than 2,000 calories a day. It was torture at first.”

Although Leah doesn’t blame her mum for making her obese, she says she won’t make the same mistake when she has her own children.

“I’ll encourage my kids to be healthy as I’m aware that being overweight poses health risks,” she explains.

And Leah says she’s still proud of her mum’s website. “I talk to Mum every day on the phone – we’re best mates,” she says. “We’re both proud to be big, beautiful women. That will never change.”

By Christina Windsor