Ralph Lauren Model Filippa Hamilton Allegedly Fired For Weighing 120 Pounds

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Model Filippa Hamilton stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 120 pounds, but she claims that led to her being fired by Ralph Lauren.

The 23-year-old Swedish-French beauty claims the fashion designer sent her agent a letter in April, which read: "We're terminating your services because you don't fit into the sample clothes that you need to wear."

"They said I couldn't fit in their clothes anymore," Hamilton told Ann Curry on Wednesday's Today Show.

Ralph Lauren, however, has denied cutting ties with Hamilton over her weight

"We consider her an important part of our imaging and branding," the designer said in a statement. "We regret that our relationship has ended as a result of her inability to meet the obligations under her contract with us."

But the size-4 Hamilton argues that the designer is hiding from the facts.

"I did everything that I could," she said. "I was very loyal to them. I was on time every time."

Hamilton told Curry she never planned on going public with her complaint, but that changed when a Photoshopped image of her in a Japan mall turned up on BoingBoing.com. The Ralph Lauren ad showed Hamilton's head on the body of an emaciated woman.

"They Photoshopped her in a way that for me is grotesque and makes her look like a cartoon," Geoffrey Menin, Hamilton's attorney, told NBC News. "The trouble is that it's damaging to her. Who wants to hire somebody that looks like that?"

Ralph Lauren later removed the controversial ad and released a statement, admitting: "We have learned that we are responsible for the poor imaging and retouching that resulted in a very distorted image of a woman's body." But Hamilton argues that the damage has already been done.

"It's not a good example when you see this picture, every young woman is going to look at it and think that it is normal to look like that. It's not," she told Curry. "I saw my face on this super-extremely skinny girl, which is not me. It makes me sad. It makes me think that Ralph Lauren wants to have this kind of image. It's an American brand ... and it's not healthy, and it's not right."

"I was very sad," she continued. "I've been working with them since I was 15 years old. For me, they were my second family, so I was very hurt by this."