Standing in for Oprah was a God-given plus, says model Tricia Campbell
Published:Sunday | May 5, 2024 | 12:08 AMYasmine Peru - Sunday Gleaner Writer
Following the briefest of conversations with plus-size model, Tricia Campbell, one thing becomes apparent, she is big on God. Despite that, however, it was still a bit startling to hear how she snugly fit in the divine and her meeting with entertainment mogul, Oprah Winfrey. And it wasn’t just about answered prayers, it was more about the purpose.
“I believe that God put me with Oprah to help her with her confidence [about] her body,” a body positive Campbell told The Sunday Gleaner. “She’s from that era when beauty is defined by being thin. For her to be in the media and labelled ‘fat’ was unacceptable. She wouldn’t wear bathing suits ... she wouldn’t show her arms.”
Campbell’s meeting with the billionaire queen of talk show came when she was chosen - after previously failing to snag the job - as a stand-in to model the outfits that Oprah would wear on the cover of her O magazine. They were both more or less the same size, so fashion designers such as the A-list Vera Wang and Badgley Mischka would dress Campbell in various outfits, the make-up artistes would work their magic and the photographer, Ruven Afanador, would complete the job for the mock-up. Oprah and Gayle King would then choose the ones they liked best.
A meeting with Oprah was certainly not in the non-disclosure contract she had signed, but it did happen. Campbell was told after one of the shoots that Winfrey was in the building and wanted to see her.
“I said ‘Hi, Lady O, I love what you are doing.’ She told me ‘You are gifted.’ We took a picture together and she signed it. I spent eight years with them,” Campbell shared, adding,”my purpose was to inspire Oprah at that time. It was so sad that no matter how much money she has, she was still insecure about her body. At that meeting with her, I could feel her energy.”
Winfrey, now 70, revealed recently that she has been taking the weight loss medication, Ozempic, after debuting a slimmed down version of herself.
“The fact that there’s a medically approved prescription for managing weight and staying healthier, in my lifetime, feels like relief, like redemption, like a gift,” Winfrey told PEOPLE magazine in a November 2023 interview. “It was public sport to make fun of me for 25 years. I have been blamed and shamed, and I blamed and shamed myself.”
The job as Oprah’s stand-in is high on Campbell’s list, not necessarily because of the pay, but owing to the connections it gave her.
“Persons seem to believe that because Oprah is a millionaire she’s going to pay more than other people. No! She pays the industry rates of what an average stand-in model would make. That’s the business. I learned a lot and I met a lot of people ... and Oprah did mention me in one of the magazines.”
Campbell’s journey to acceptance has had its own challenges and she shared that for years, even when she was at the top and making a lot of money from modelling, being “plus” didn’t easily roll off her tongue.
“I would hardly open my mouth to say ‘plus-size model’ when people asked, ‘What do you do?’ But that has changed. It was always my dream to enter the international fashion industry and I entered the Miss Jamaica competition at 13 when I was living in Montego Bay. I was told ‘You re the biggest one in the pageant’ and I went home and and had only water and fruits ... starved myself,” the Mount Alvernia High School alum recalled.
A graduate of Fashion Institute of Technology, Campbell sashayed into modelling through a designing job which required her to “throw on some pieces of clothing when the fit model didn’t turn up”. She later heard the world “plus-size model”, was intrigued enough to secure an audition and was told, at that time, that she was “the perfect size 18”.
“I met a very nice lady who told me that she was making US$350 per hour as a fit model for some of the big garment companies and she gave me two names. Fit modelling is a white-dominated field, particularly because of our shape as black women. But I lucked out because I have more of an Indian flat bottom and belly. My first job was with a coat company and then God opened the flood gates and I was getting jobs in Paris [and] England; working as a fit model with Jessica Simpson, Macy’s, Miss Tina who is Beyonce’s mom. My biggest client is Target for their active wear and bras. It continues to be a great journey,” Campbell said.
She has been featured on the BET Networks show, Rip the Runway and is associated with TRUE model Management. Now into virtual modelling, and coaching, Campbell also has her own lines, Glamour Glamour and Curvy Girls Rock.
A 2024 QORIHC honoree, Campbell shared that “it’s a tremendous feeling to be recognised at home, for my accomplishments”. Her advice to all is “Find out what God has put you on this Earth to do, and go for it.”