There is a great dichotomy in the forum of public opinion surrounding the topic of a woman’s ideal body size.? There is a continually raging debate about who’s too skinny, who’s too fat, who lost their ?baby weight? the fastest, and on and on.? And celebrities are on the forefront of this debate. ?You can’t step outside of your home or turn on your computer without being smacked in the face by a photograph or story scrutinizing how the latest femme fatale failed to choose the right outfit to hide her apparent dietary indiscretions. ?And some fans seem to take it rather personally when they feel that their favorite objet d?art has failed to meet their personal criteria of perfection.
Fiona Apple was recently heckled by one of her adoring fans during her concert in Portland, OR earlier this month, when the woman in the audience shouted out:
Fiona! Get healthy! We want to see you in 10 years!
The comment was posted in every major news outlet online. If you’ve been following the career of Apple, it’s clear to see that she has always been a very slender woman. It’s also clear that she has little tolerance for anything she views as negative, since she had the woman kicked out of her concert, but not before unleashing an angry tirade, shouting back:
I am healthy! Who the f-ck do you think you are? I want you the f-ck out of here. I want the house lights on so I watch you leave!
While Apple has been criticized for being too skinny by both fans and the media, it wasn’t long ago that Lady Gaga was making headlines for gaining 25 pounds and daring to go out into public with her new curvy body. But Lady Gaga took a very different approach to the criticism she received by declaring in a quote published in the New York Times:
I am not going to go on a psycho-spree because of scrutiny.This is who I am. ?And I am proud at any size.
There is a synergistic relationship between celebrities and their fans.
Have some ?fans? gone too far with publicly voicing their thoughts and opinions?? Some truly seem to be personally invested in, if not obsessed with, the physical appearance of celebrities, which websites such as Celebitchy, Celebrity Pop, and People are proof-positive of this phenomenon. Celebrities are not immune to the effect of this scrutiny placed upon them by the same people that put them on the pedestals in the first place. This was brilliantly revealed in a quote by actress Gaby Hoffman in the New York Observer when she said:
People are obsessed with actresses being hairless, fatless Barbie dolls. They can’t imagine that people would want to be anything other than that. When they are, it’s looked at as almost a political statement. Look at Lena Dunham. She is a gorgeous woman and people can’t stop talking about how brave she is to show herself naked, which I find totally condescending and ridiculous. If Angelina Jolie was naked onscreen no one would say she was brave. The implication is that Lena’s brave because she doesn’t look the way she’s supposed to look. I think that’s a shame.
Every woman deals with bouts of self-loathing and poor body-image at some point in their lives, no matter what their job or social status. But to make matters more challenging, Christopher Ochner, a researcher of obesity, eating disorders and nutrition at Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center in Manhattan, states:
?the media’s portrayal of ideal beauty, which is still this stick-thin, crazy-thin standard. Average girls look at fashion models and say, ‘If I’m not like that, then nobody’s going to need me or love me.???
But there has been a push-back in recent years by Hollywood’s elite, and self-acceptance has become the new hot-bottom topic. Shows like, Super Fun Night, starring the very voluptuous actress Rebel Wilson, and Drop Dead Diva, who’s star, Brooke Elliot is also full-figured, have become popular and send a very clear message that a woman can be beautiful and successful at any size.
As long as there are celebrities and media, there will be women that follow their favorite celeb’s weight gains and losses like men follow Fantasy Football stats. Perhaps the next App might be the Fantasy Celebrity Weight game, where fans try to guess how long it will take a socialite to lose her baby weight, who can do it the fastest and who’s going to fit into their size 2 Armani dress on the Red Carpet next year. ??But that is only if the Fionna Apple App doesn’t kick it and any other celebrity criticism apps off your phone.
Edited/Published by: SB
