I’m the world’s tallest female bodybuilder - trolls stare at me but I love my height and chiseled frame

THE world's tallest female bodybuilder has told how she loves her height - even if trolls stop and stare at her in the street.

At 5ft11.92ins, Maria Wattel is taller than any other professional female bodybuilder, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

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The 42-year-old dwarfs many of the men at her gym in Athens, Greece, and says some of them can appear jealous of her size.

But despite loving her career, she is also used to people staring at her in the street - and says it is just something she just has to "live with".

“People on the street when they see me, everybody's always looking at me." the IFBB pro told the U.S. Sun.

"That's just something I have to live with and that's okay. 

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"I like being me, I like what I do and that comes with the package.

"If I would've been shorter, nobody would've noticed me."

Maria, whose great-grandmother was 196cm tall, said some men appear can appear jealous her frame in the gym.

She was also once left shocked when a man spat at her in the street.

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It's the kind of attention the sportswoman is forced to warn pals about - and even apologizes to them in advance.

"I apologize if I meet some new friends or I had to say to my partner when we go out 'be aware, people are going to stare'," Maria said.

"So I'm even trying to apologize to other people, you know, because it's me they're gonna look at.

"I'm sorry if you're in the group with me, because by definition people are going to look at you as well.”

The former World Championship medal holder trains for three hours a day and sticks to a rigid diet when she's competing.

But she also likes to strike "a balance between muscles and femininity" and doesn't let her career get in the way of spending time with her loved ones.

She says she shows them the same level of "respect and understanding" as she shows her sport and believes it's an important message for any business to follow.

Maria said: "I love what I do, but I also love the people around me and the understanding that they have for me in the time that really matters.

"When I go towards a show, I should show the same respect and understanding for them."

She added: "It would be really cool if almost all the women on earth tried just some sort of bodybuilding regime," she said.

"As a form of meditation, as a form of letting off steam and trying to understand themselves.

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"I want girls to look up to women and say that's how I wanna look. She's really powerful, it's pure, it's real.

"You can learn a lot from a bodybuilder."

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