TAMPA, Fla. — These days, Supermodel Daniela Braga is the face of glamour and sophistication but that wasn't always the case.

The 28-year-old, who graced the covers of Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and Marie Claire and the catwalk for Victoria Secret Show, said she was once an ugly duckling.

"I've always been very skinny and very tall and I was the weirdest one in school," said Braga, speaking before an assembly of students at Burnett Middle School in Seffner.

Braga told the group of 800 students that she was ridiculed for her looks for five years while attending high school in her native Brazil. It started after a male classmate said she looked like a character from the popular fantasy film "Lord of the Rings."

"I went through some many bad things: bullying, depression and I was going to give up on myself," she said. "But I started accepting me and my body and loving me. Then I became a model at 18."

Braga took part in the assembly Tuesday after connecting with Jaylen Arnold, who heads up his own Lakeland-based anti-bullying non-profit. Arnold was bullied for having Tourette's Syndrome, a condition that causes a person to make involuntary movements and sounds.

"I know how bad the bullying was for me and I wanted kids to know that they're so much more than what other kids are telling them they are," said Arnold. "I want to build them up and let them know they're important."

Arnold connected with Braga after he received an award from an organization Braga represented as an ambassador. She traveled to Seffner at her own expense to be part of the assembly.

"I really wanted to do that for myself and for the kids because I know they'd listen to me more than the parents," she said.

And as for that bully who started her harassment in school? He asked her out on a date when she returned to Brazil after becoming a sought-after model.

"I turned him down," she laughed.