I went on a radio show recently and the DJ asked me,
“What if you woke up tomorrow and you were beautiful?”

What do you mean, “What if?”

He continued, “What if you woke up tomorrow and you
were blonde, you had blue eyes, you were 5’11, you
were 100 lbs and you were beautiful? What would you
do?”

“Well, I probably wouldn’t get up because I would be
too weak to stand."

Immediately I felt sorry for him, because if that
is the only kind of person you think is beautiful, you
must not see very much beauty in the world. I think
everyone is beautiful, and if you don’t think that I
am beautiful you are missing out because I am so
beautiful.

It has taken me a long way to get to feeling
beautiful. It certainly wasn’t easy. I never felt
beautiful growing up. I was a really awkward kid; very
overweight, totally shy and scared of everything and
everyone. When you are big people ignore you. You
become totally invisible which is weird because there
is so much of you to see.

When I grew up I still felt like I was ugly. A lot
of my life was lived under this notion. I had sex with
lots of guys because I thought I was so ugly... who was
I to turn them down?

That is really terrible, when you feel so ugly that
you don’t have a right to choose anything. I mean
there isn’t anything wrong with being slutty. Slutty
can be awesome and fun. I respect and love sluts and
enjoy being one now and again. But slutty should be a
choice!

Having sex without valuing yourself and respecting
yourself is a sad thing, and I did way too much of
that.

I look back on it all now and I want to cry for
the beautiful young girl I once was because I wasn’t
as kind to her as I should have been. That is why I am
so good to myself now.

I have tattoos because I am so beautiful the only
thing I can do is make myself more beautiful. My
tattoos are gorgeous because they also remind me that
my body is mine, that it is a work of art, that even
though I may not be a size 2 and am old enough to be
the mom of some of the tattoo artists who have worked
on me, I am still stunningly beautiful. Tattoos are a
way to share some of the beauty you have on the inside
to everyone who is outside. When I see anyone’s
tattoos I say, “Ah – beautiful!”

I hope everyone comes to my brand new show
“Beautiful”. I hope everyone feels beautiful all the
time.

Margaret Cho



***Editor's Note: SuicideGirls is proud to welcome Margaret Cho as a contributor. Show the lady some love! Her new stand-up comedy tour "Beautiful" hits the road on February 27. Go check out her official site for more info and don't forget to read the awesome interview she and I did for SG!