Celebrities often find themselves under intense public scrutiny. Given how publicised their lives are, it’s kind of expected. The nature of their job means they have to sacrifice their privacy and constantly deal with rumours, scandals and unnecessary opinions. Most recently, Ariana Grande’s weight has been the subject of much discussion. Various news outlets and fans have been commenting on her visibly smaller frame, in some cases even body shaming her.
On Tuesday, Grande finally broke her silence, and in a three-minute-long TikTok video, expressed her views regarding these comments. She shared that people were "comparing [her] current body" to "the unhealthiest version of [her] body". She added, "I was on a lot of antidepressants and drinking on them and eating poorly and at the lowest point of my life when I looked the way you consider my healthy, but that in fact wasn't my healthy”.
Bella Hadid reposted the video onto her instagram and voiced her support for Ariana. In the caption she wrote, “You never know what someone is going through mentally or physically. Disease or depression. Grief or heartache… instead of unsolicited advice or opinions, judgement or aggression, just try to offer them a helping hand and be nice”. She ended the post by thanking Grande for being so candid and helping others by sharing her experience.
Unfortunately, this isn’t an isolated incident.
It’s quite common to offhandedly make remarks about celebrities' appearances without considering the consequences, especially about women. Since 2018, Selena Gomez has been body shamed incessantly for her weight. She suffers from Lupus and deals with other various health issues, making her reliant on medication that can cause weight gain. However, irrespective of the reasoning behind her weight fluctuations, it's frightening how judgemental people can be.
Other celebrities who have faced similar criticism are Khloe Khardashian, Lady Gaga, Ashley Graham and Jennifer Anniston. These are just a few examples. However, women aren’t the only victims.
Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman was ridiculed and made fun of for his sudden weight loss. All the while, people had no idea the reason behind this was colon cancer. Zac Effron had to deal with negative remarks because of his weight gain. Eventually, he came out and spoke about his mental health struggles; dealing with an eating disorder and body dysmorphia. It’s quite shocking that celebrities have to come out and justify their weight fluctuations - as if it's abnormal.
Sometimes it’s just pure jealousy or hatred, sometimes it is out of concern. However, without fully understanding the context and making assumptions, even out of concern, comments about people’s bodies can be very damaging. It’s hard to believe that even in our current day-and-age body shaming is so common. Whilst the Body Positivity Movement has made huge progress in terms of normalising different shapes and sizes, there is still a tendency to make broad generalisations based on our own notions. Understandably, there are many well intentioned people who just want to help but it is important to be careful.
As Ariana Grande said ‘healthy can look different’. It’s time we realise that not everything can be taken at face value. ‘Looking healthy’ on the outside doesn’t necessarily mean healthy on the inside.
Edited by Carlos Martinez
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