Another day, another inane celebrity quote – in a world Charlie Sheen isn’t even considered shocking anymore, why bother with the cobwebs that decorate pretty, vacant minds? Well for one thing, they’re not vacant. I think for the most part celebrities are not stupid. Sure they do dumb things sometimes (don’t we all?) but save for a few who have fried themselves into lunacy the majority know exactly what they’re doing. Second, the argument has been made that what celebrities model, the rest of us follow and to some extent this is true – they’re not called “trendsetters” for their ability to raise hunting dogs – but I would also argue that celebs, especially the young vocal ones who haven’t yet learned that everything they say can and will be used against them in the court of public opinion, are only repeating what they’ve been told so often… by us. A vicious cycle of laxative-purged emotions.
This past week I came across a large number of weight quotes attributed to various starlets that I feel need debunking – both for their sake and for ours.
1. Jennifer Hudson in People: “I’m prouder of my weight loss than my Oscar!”
Dear Jennifer, stop the train. What are you thinking?! Will you still have your Oscar to show your great-grandkids and tell them about all the awesome dressing room pranks you played on Beyonce? Yes. Will you still have your hot, young bod to show them and tell those kiddies all about… your daily points allowance from Weight Watchers? Gosh I hope not. You were beautiful and talented before you lost weight and you’re beautiful and talented now but the talented part is way more important than your ability to conform to an ideal where, as you put it yourself, “in Hollywood everyone looks the same.”
2. Bethenny Frankel in Life & Style: ‘I’m too thin, because I’m so busy I’m not always hungry, I have to make myself eat more because of my busy schedule.”
Dear Bethenney, I like you. Even when I didn’t want to like you – I like to be counter-culture like that, yo – I read your books and I really liked you. I also get where you’re coming from. When I get really involved in a project I don’t want to take time out to eat either. But here’s the thing: your business is called Skinnygirl. You’ve made your fortune off of ostensibly telling other women how to get skinny like you without doing stupid things. And yet you did (and do?) a lot of stupid things to get the bod that sold the brand. I’m glad you are no longer starving yourself and using laxatives (that would be anorexia and bulimia for those of us that are not famous) but I’m concerned that you’ve embraced the “skinny at all costs” mindset, like you think your livelihood depends on your ability to control your weight. But I’m here to tell you that we’ll like you just as much (and maybe more?) if you take better care of yourself, honey.
3. Jessica Alba in People (August 15, 2011): (of her sweet pregnant belly) “There’s no hiding the bump. […] They don’t make clothes for women with giant beer guts.”
Dear Jessica, if you cannot tell the difference between a beer gut and a baby then you have drunk too many of the former and have no business carrying the latter. But seriously, stop it. I know it’s super trendy right now to say “I went all 9 months and all I had to do was ride my jeans a little lower!” but maternity clothes exist for a reason and I think they’re pretty darn cute these days. You don’t have to love being pregnant – heaven knows I didn’t – but be proud of your beautiful bump. How many other people can say they grew ears today?
4. Mila Kunis in Britain’s Glamour: “‘I’m a huge foodie, I love food. But when people say, “I can’t lose weight”, no no no, you can. Your body can do everything and anything, you just have to want to do it.” (Thanks to Hangry Hippo for the tip!)
Dear Mila, I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, kudos to you for celebrating the infinite possibilities that lie within people. Too often we forget what miracles we really are and I love that you know this. On the other hand, do you have to pick losing 20 pounds for Black Swan (in an admittedly unhealthy way) to be the sterling example of the amazing things your body can do? You (and Natalie Portman) were teeny tiny to begin with and losing that weight made us all worry about you. (I know, I know serious actress, Oscar, Christian Bale and all that. I read the interviews.) Do you know that losing too much weight will actually inhibit your body from doing all the amazing things it is built to do? Also, telling people that they “just have to want to do it” isn’t super helpful when it comes to weight loss. But then maybe it would be if we were getting paid millions of dollars and incredible fame to do it? Not to mention that losing 20 pounds for a movie role is a whole different ballgame than losing a substantial portion of your body weight for the rest of your life.
What’s your take – are these celebs just being honest and keeping it real or do you get as annoyed as I do by the steady stream of body nonsense? Which celeb do you wish you could shake some sense into?
Oy, does this push my buttons, lol!
Can I take them on one at a time? (You may want to grab some water and a snack, and do get comfy.)
Jennifer Hudson: Amen, Charlotte! She is an amazing talent, gorgeous at any size, and her performance in “Dreamgirls” was terrific. It is immortalized on film, and will presumably be so for generations to come. It is something to be very proud of. Being a size zero? Yes, it’s an accomplishment, but talent and hard work is something to truly cherish.
Bethanny Frankel:
Therapy. Now.
Jessica Alba:
OK, I understand. You’ve been praised for your beauty and hotness. You’ve been asked to appear either naked or nearly so in just about every movie you’ve ever done. You became famous at 19, and now that you’re in your 30’s you’ve been relegated to Mom roles in Hollywood, which is the middle ground between Hot Young Thang and Judge/D.A roles. You may be starting to panic. So here is my advice to you: Run. Get out. Leave L.A., leave Hollywood, take the money you have made, invest it wisely, and go raise your kids in a place that is sane and smog-free. Do not pass go, do not stop in any plastic surgeons’ offices, just. Go. You and your family will be MUCH happier. And, y’know, not crazy.
Mila Kunis:
You looked like a 9 year-old in “Black Swan.” Yes, we understand that ballerinas have stunted growth and bulimia, but there’s such a thing as artistic license. The majority of the movie-going public are not professional ballerinas, and would have bought the two of you as dancers without the drastic weight loss. You are lovely, you are funny, but you are also REALLY young. Talk to me about how easy it is to lose weight when you’re in your 40’s, have kids, and cannot afford a personal trainer/nutritionist/personal assistant and have to do it all on your own.
Hollywood is a young person’s game. Especially for women. Angelina Jolie, the Hottest Woman On The Planet 2 years ago, is suddenly over the hill at, what, 35? Look at most films and you’ll see 40-something men paired with women half their age, while 32 year-old women are cast as the moms of teenagers. (Seriously, I had my FIRST child at 32!!!!)
I recently saw an interview with Mary McCormack, an actress who is my age (42) and pregnant with her 3rd child. She filmed the 4th season of her show while pregnant, and had it written in, saying she was proud to show “what real pregnancy looks like. I mean, my NECK is fat!” I loved her before that, but love her even more now!
OK, getting off the soapbox now. Thank you for reading, and I hope you are still awake.
I read Jennifer Hudson’s comments in an article (I think she repeated it in SELF, too, or something quite similar) and I just thought “oh how sad.” Because the thing is, she doesn’t value her talent or her mind or her creativity more than she values the size of her waist. Losing weight is a huge accomplishment, and as someone who battles the bulge daily, I get that. But I’ll be danged if I say that it’s more important than something as huge as an OSCAR!!!
As for Jessica Alba, that poor girl. I hate pregnancy/being pregnant too, but really. She’s gorgeous!!
I also wholeheartedly agree with all of Alyssa’s comments. Esp. about the 30-year old moms of teenagers! It’s like, seriously. No!!!!!
I’d heard three of the four quotes (not the Jessica Alba one) and remember squirming at each one. I get what Jessica Hudson is trying to say (she lost weight for health reasons, and if losing the weight has improved her future quality of life, then it is arguably important than an Oscar) but the way she phrased it makes it sound as if vanity is more important than talent.
The Mila Kunis quote made me a little upset, as I have struggled to lose weight in the past, and this quote made me feel a bit like a failure. It’s not easy for everyone, and she can’t compare her weight loss as a multimillionaire with time to spare and the best help money can buy to anyone losing weight the ‘normal’ way.
The before and afters on Mila and Bethany look exactly the same. All that effort, all that bone loss, for nil in my eyes.
I’m still shocked about the Black Swan weight loss, but the fact that Kunis says this as if (or is quoted in a way that implies) it’s aspirational? “Oh you can be as MENTAL as this, you just need to WANT it.” Nuts.
Px
The ballet actress is a little silly with her statements I agree. She is really saying,she didn’t think she was fat/unfit ,till she was thinner. I can understand her wanting to be thinner for the role because dancers are very driven by ambition and manage their fitness like a religion so it would get her into the mindset at least but there is something just a bit naive about thinking everyone can do a thing just because she found that she could.
Kind of reminds me of Christian Bale with his anorexic physique in ‘the machinist’. too extreme and dangerous and all in the name of ‘art’. .
I don’t even know what these women look like except for Jessica Alba. Off to Google some images.
My stupid celebrity quote comes from actor Val Kilmer:
“I made a New Year’s resolution well before the year was coming to a close. I resolved to continue on the path that I have been on in recent years and to hit it home even further. It’s become ever more clear to me in recent years that this is my one true destiny and that I have to embrace it in order to truly enjoy life,” said Kilmer in an exclusive interview. “I figure there’s no sense fighting what you are. I’ve done that before and it only ever resulted in heartache and frustration and that is something that at my age I’m simply not willing to tolerate any more. My resolution for the New Year is to eat as much as I possibly can without getting sick and I am going to stick to that no matter the obstacles.”
By the way, here’s what Val looks like now: http://www.showmedonttellme.com/when-we-age/
Leann Rimes. The girl is delusional. Tweeting that shes sick of people saying stuff. girl you DO NOT eat so quit making it seem like you do.
Another Jessica Alba quote about plans to lose the baby weight:
“I have a hard time with portion control, so I have 1,200 calories meals delivered,” she says. “But I also work out, so basically I’m starving – it sucks. I drink a lot of water.”
While I applaud her for actually admitting she is starving herself (rather than pretending it was easy), it is sad that society puts so much pressure on women to lose baby weight they feel they have to resort to these measures.
Ok I need to stop, in looking for the Jessica Alba quote I found one of my all time BIGGEST pet peeve quotes “its so hard to gain weight”, only now Megan Fox’s TRAINER is saying it. Because coming from a professional it must be true (barf):
The trainer said Fox found it difficult to gain weight: “She gets frustrated at times because she’s like ‘I need to put on weight.’ So she actually weight-trains to keep on that lean muscle tissue.”
I loved Anne Hathaway’s recent comment about how she’s staying thin: “I’m living on kale and dust.” PS you should totally pitch this as a slideshow for iVillage.
I heard that one too! Hilarious! And probably true, unfortunately.
It’s so ridiculous. All of it. But I also know that these people have a completely different frame of mind than I ever could/would/will. They live in a world where gaining/losing weight is something you do for a job. Where they are praised for being underweight and where when they aren’t working, their only job is to look amazing. I’d probably have a messed up head about weight if my job was to be hot. Luckily my job is to be an engineer 🙂
Good point. If I’m a bit on the chubby side, it’s expected because I have a 40 hour a week desk job.
Celebrities annoy me and I’ve never been one to follow celebrity culture because it’s so FAR from my own reality. I’ve recently made a resolution to cut back on tv again (even though I was already under 3 hours per week) partially because I don’t want to hear stupid celebrity quotes and partially because I won’t get sucked into the couch.
Every time I read about Jessica Alba’s body image issues it just makes me sad. She’s beautiful when she’s pregnant and she’s beautiful when she’s not, yet this poor lady just doesn’t seem to see that for herself.
Thank you for writing this.
I really like the point you made about Jennifer Hudson and I think that people including myself need to be more thankful for the amazing things we can do even though we think we are not our ‘perfect’ weight
Celeb I’d like to shake some sense into? Me Gibson. He could use a dose of “Shaken Actor Syndrome.”
I torn on this. Everyone has issues about the way they look and I imagine being under the spotlight every day would ramp that up to a 10. Still…they have to be aware that what they say is written down. For others, particularly young girls, to read. And I really despise that sort of “girly” small talk…it’s totally uneccesary and just feeds the cycle of self depreciation that so many women feel they need to endure for some reason.
To be honest, the only one I’m dissapointed with is Jenniffer Hudson. I get being proud of losing weight…that is fine. I get that… but to say it’s the biggest achievement of your life? I just think how much she mustn’t have liked herself before, and that is a shame. It belittles what she did before that…which was to win a freaking Oscar!
I think we pay far too much attention to what celebrities say. They’re just people with issues and their own problems. I’m sure I can come up with some of my own to deal with 🙂
Thank you for posting this! I could rant for days on the social pressures put on women these days, but I’ll spare you…
It is nice to hear healthy opinions 🙂
Celebrities have a very different reality than the rest of us do. Its unfortunate that “the rest of us” allow this small group of society to set a standard for us when our lives and reality are so vastly different.
I don’t have any issues with what Jennifer Hudson said. Acting and singing seem to come naturally to her, but her weight loss was hard work. Why can’t she be more proud of hard work than doing something that comes easily? Now if she had said that she’s not grateful for her talent, or that she would rather be thin than be able to sing I would think she had issues. But that’s not what she said so I don’t see what the big deal is. FTR, I’ve never had an eating disorder. I wonder if that makes it easier for me to not read into comments, or if it just makes me miss some of the disordered undertones. Probably a little of both.
I disagree on Mila Kunis – I thought her quote was great. I think weight loss IS all about how much you want it. If I wanted to lose weight more than I wanted to eat unhealthy food, I would lose weight. Unfortunately for me, sometimes I want the food more than I want the weight loss. If I wanted to lose weight more than I wanted to save to buy a house/apartment, I could hire a fancy schmancy personal trainer. If I wanted to lose weight more than I wanted to keep my current career, I would quit my job (which requires me to travel four days/week, work 60-90 hours/week, and constantly be wining and dining my clients) and get a job as a dog walker or something.
Now, is it wrong that I want those things more than I want to lose weight? ABSOLUTELY NOT. And I would probably question anyone for whom weight loss was what they wanted more than anything else. But I can’t say that weight loss is what I want most, and that’s why I am not losing weight. It’s all about balancing your multiple wants.
Ya I remember when I was a kid looking at how skinny all the stars were and wishing I would be just like them. It’s hard to find women who love their bodies these days and the worst is when it’s people who can influence us and our children!
I agree with Liz – celebrities are in a different world than us. Unfortunately they have even more pressure than us to be skinny/thin – way too thin. BUT on the health, fitness, diet front for them – often I don’t really believe what they say in terms of what they eat & what they do to stay fit….. some read as if their manager wrote if for them… not saying all but a lot. Many are not great role models & you see so many of them smoking when they are caught out & about….
Ha! So glad you posted about this. I always find celebrities’ adament “I eat whatever I want!” comments to be mind-boggling, false, and just down-right insulting to our intelligence, not to mention these comments are brain-washing people.
With J-Hud my only question is, “What acting roles have you been offered since losing the weight?”
As for the rest, I do not hold myself up to the same standards as the professionally pretty people. If I had to live on ‘kale and dust’ for my HR career, I would most likely find another career.
I reject society’s standars of beauty and what is feminine and substitute my own. My body was not put on this earth to look good but to run and play and transport me from place to place. It was made to be a tool, a vehicle and an experiencer of joy and pleasure. I take good care of it and treat it well with much more regard what it can do than how it looks.
Oh, how the Bethany comment makes me cringe!!
I think it’s interesting: women are so interested in being educated and empowered. They believe (and oftentimes rightly so) they can do anything a man can do. And yet. And yet. We continue to be so hung up on our weight. It’s what we hang our worth on, and what others hang our worth on. Oh sure, we’re proud of our Master’s degrees, our promotion or the beautiful children we’re raising. But what we really want you to notice is that we’ve lost ten pounds. We’ve come so far, but we still have so much distance left to cover.
I wanted you to see this article, I thought you’d appreciate it.
http://www.malepatternfitness.com/2011/8/11/2357504/a-six-pack-wont-fix-your-life
Ooh thank you!! I love Andrew Heffernan!!!
One nice thing that sort of came up with JHud is the issue of fat discrimination…
“You never know you’re being discriminated against until you see what you’ve been deprived of. Everybody wants you to wear this or put you on the cover of that. Before, my career was great, but since losing weight, I haven’t stopped. I have worked every single day of this year.”
http://www.self.com/healthystars/2011/09/how-jennifer-hudson-lost-80-pounds-slideshow#slide=10
Even when I tell myself I look fine, if I don’t *dress up* I feel like the treatment I get from strangers, doctors, and customer service reps is disturbingly poor.
Also disagree on Mila Kunis, I know it’s an unpopular opinion but I do think if you want/prioritize being thin more than you do food then you will lose weight. I’m not saying it’s healthy, but neither was she. If you read more of her interview she goes on to say that being that thin was addictive because she looked so amazing on film, but that in real life, and I quote, she looked like “Golem”!
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