Scarily Skinny Celebs: Nicole, Angelina, Lindsay, Mary-Kate, and more
The cover of the current issue of In Touch Weekly caught my eye last night, and I just had to pick it up even though I’m not usually someone who reads stuff like that. Just look at Nicole Richie! She looks positively ill. No wonder the cancer rumors have started circulating… (Interestingly, there are also some pregnancy rumors going around!)
Courtesy of TheSkinnyWebsite.com, you can see the spread and read about Angelina Jolie’s shocking weight loss, as well.
Although Nicole, Angelina, and other celebs like Lindsay Lohan and Mary-Kate Olsen have become the poster children for skinny celebrities, there are dozens of others whose too-slim stature raises eyebrows.
Celebrities-Suck.com has a “skin and bone” parade of skinny stars including Teri Hatcher, Brittany Murphy, and Mischa Barton, among others.
The LA Times has a slideshow of Hollywood’s Slimmest Stars that features Nicole, Ashlee Simpson, Keira Knightley, Lindsay, Kate Bosworth, Mary-Kate, and Calista Flockhart.
So what’s going on? On the one hand, we have perfectly healthy people like Jordin Sparks being called obese and get-real crusaders like Joy Nash ranting about discrimation against “fat” people (self-inflicted and otherwise), and then we have celebrities who are literally wasting away before our very eyes.
Have we become a nation of physical extremes? How does this affect your own body image?
Tags: Angelina-Jolie, anorexia, Ashlee-Simpson, Brittany-Murphy, bulemia, Calista-Flockhart, Cancer, celeb, Celebrities, celebrity, eating-disorder, Kate-Bosworth, Keira-Knightley, Lindsay-Lohan, Mary-Kate-Olsen, Mischa-Barton, Nicole-Richie, Pregnancy, pregnant, skinny, Teri-Hatcher, Terri-Hatcher, underweight, woman, women, Womens-HealthRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Beauty, Body, Celebrities, Diet, Health, Obesity, Weight Loss
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17 opinions for Scarily Skinny Celebs: Nicole, Angelina, Lindsay, Mary-Kate, and more
alicia
Jun 7, 2007 at 4:36 pm
Today, it doesn’t affect my body image at all. I’m comfortable with my diet and my shape. I don’t worry too much about weight because to me, I may look just as great five pounds heavier than I was last month. Too, you have to factor in muscles, water retention, etc.
But in high school - wow! The summer before my sophomore year was when I was the worst. I started school at four, so I was the youngest in my class. I didn’t turn 15 until my sophomore year, so that summer I was 14 and my mind and body were still getting used to things like the good ol’ menses, hormones, etc. Anyway, I was within my ideal weight range, but heavier than my super skinny friends. Naturally, I felt obese. Then Toni Braxton came out with that “You’re Makin’ Me High” video (the one where her body is insanely in shape) and, well, I just fell to pieces, haha.
Thank God for growing up and gaining wisdom, huh?
sognatrice
Jun 7, 2007 at 4:52 pm
I was beginning to think I was the only one grossed out by Jolie’s arms. She looks so sickly!
As for affecting my body image, Hollywood images don’t affect me one bit. I’m 30 and have come to accept my body for what it is and isn’t. I’ve worked hard the last few years to get healthier and in better shape, and I’ve had a lot of success, but I know I’ll never be stick thin–thank goodness as I (and my fiance) rather enjoy my curves ;)
Sara
Jun 7, 2007 at 11:59 pm
I live in LA and I can say the standard for women just keeps shrinking and shrinking.
alicia
Jun 8, 2007 at 12:15 am
I don’t think I’d make it in LA. I’d like to think I’m confident enough in myself to not be bothered - well, here in my surroundings and home, I am.
I don’t know how I’d react in a place like LA, though.
Victoria Silvstedt
Jun 8, 2007 at 10:18 am
why do u leave out scarlett and victoria beckham the matchstick celebrities!!
Kristen King
Jun 8, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Scarlett Johansson? I’ve never heard of her having weight problems. If you have a link, please e-mail it to me at kristen@b5media.com and I’ll take a look.
Posh Spice, on the other hand, well I just made an editorial decision on that one. :] But here’s some info on her recent too-skinny exploits:
http://tinyurl.com/zulyb
http://tinyurl.com/yqchl5
http://tinyurl.com/23aqy8
And here’s another blurb about Angelina, Britney Spears, and Nicole Richie, among others:
http://tinyurl.com/yshwmu
sognatrice
Jun 8, 2007 at 4:27 pm
I have to agree on not knowing how I’d do in LA; I’m lucky to be in a culture that is pretty accepting of all women (southern Italy where curves are the norm), but in LA? I don’t know that I’d be able to stay level-headed.
IMHO, Victoria Beckham is truly in a league of her own regarding the stick figure, but Scarlett Johansson? It looks like perhaps her weight fluctuates, but I don’t think she ever looks emaciated or even unhealthy. Quite the contrary in fact!
alicia
Jun 8, 2007 at 4:35 pm
I agree about Scarlett Johansson, too. I’ve never seen her so skinny she’s sickly-looking. I’ve often thought to myself that her face always looks much fuller than those of her boney co-workers.
Kathy
Jun 8, 2007 at 8:35 pm
Okay, I’m going to weigh in from a different perspective here. I’ve been known to suffer from lengthy bouts of anxiety (sometimes coupled with depression). When I do so, I completely lose my appetite. Fortunately (or not so fortunately as the case may be) for me, my body is on to me and my metabolism slows down to accommodate my decresed food intake. I also force myself to eat–which let me tell you is not fun. Hence, I’ve never looked like a concentration camp member. That said, I’m not so sure these women are starving themselves intentionally. Angelina has recently lost her mother (grief most definitely interferes with my ability to eat well) and Nicole claims her dramatic weight loss stems from anxiety over her breakup with her ex. From my perspective, that’s highly possible. I’m not saying it’s healthy, because it’s not, but it may very well not being a case of them *trying* to be waif thin. It may be psychological trauma making it near impossible for them to maintain good eating habits.
Carmen Diego
Jun 26, 2007 at 7:00 pm
I hate that so many young girls idolize these celebrities. I agree with Sara when she says the standard for women keeps shrinking and shrinking.
kj
Dec 9, 2007 at 7:37 am
I think that people should stop talking about these celebrities and critisizing them for being ‘too skinny’, it really makes no difference to any of you what size clothes they wear or even what they look like for that matter, just because they are thrown into the public eye more than most does not mean that anyone has the right to judge them on their appearance. In cases of anorexia and eating disorders, I dont see why anyone cares, and if girls are stupid enough to follow that path then it is of no fault of the celebrities that have suffered in the past, if it offends you than maybe you should stop reading bullshit gossip magazines and commenting on how ’sickly’ people look, get a life.
Alicia Sparks, NAMI Affiliation Leader
Dec 10, 2007 at 11:41 pm
I can’t really speak for everyone who’s chimed in here, but I still feel confident in saying I don’t think any of us who’ve commented are “offended” by another person’s weight - famous or not. That…well, that just doesn’t make any sense. To be offended by something, that “something” would have had to, I don’t know, attack me or insult me in some way. Something I don’t think a person’s body weight is capable of doing.
What, if anything, we’re offended by is how society - thanks in part to the media - is making these super skinny bodies expected. Young girls especially are affected by this. Women are allowed to weigh whatever they want; however, when society starts pushing the number on the scale instead of health and fitness, then, yes, I think we all have a right to be offended. That’s what you’re failing to understand - this isn’t about super skinny women. This is about women feeling as if they have to be skinny.
Being concerned about the pressures society tries to place on women does not equate having no life. If anything, it shows an awareness of the world around us and our drives to make a change rather than blindly conform.
Kristen King
Dec 11, 2007 at 3:08 am
What Alicia said. :] If only I were so eloquent.
KJ, thanks for your comment. I have to point out, though, that having an eating disorder has absolutely nothing to do with a person’s intelligence or lack thereof. It is a legitimate mental illness, not stupidity, and to imply otherwise is unfair.
I find women who are alarmingly thin to be just that: alarming. It doesn’t offend me — it concerns me. And it doesn’t offend me when people offer a different opinion. But I am offended when people cuss in their comments on my blog, so please try to refrain from doing that in the future. I am also offended when mental illness is linked with stupidity, because like I said, one has nothing to do with the other.
Thanks in advance for your sensitivity.
kk
marco
Dec 24, 2007 at 1:01 am
It would be quite funny if they the stupid skinny bitches all started dropping dead from starvation.
Would it become fashionable? Would girls all around the world copy them and start starving themselves to death?
Its very bizarre and ironic that the richest women in the world look like the starving citizens of third world countries.
Hollywood needs to grow up and get a fricking brain.
Enter to Win: Meg Cabot Mysteries Giveaway
Feb 11, 2008 at 5:03 am
[…] is heavily affected by what we see in the media. We’ve got people lauding skinny celebs like Lindsay Lohan and Mary-Kate Olsen for their waif-like appearance and using words like “cow,” “chunkster,” and […]
Katrina
Mar 10, 2008 at 7:25 pm
I for one think that these women in the spotlight definatly influence females nationwide. It seems like one day there is a magazine commenting on how skinny and sick certain celebs look and the next day another magazine comes out stating how beautiful these women are. Sick or stunning?? Its all very confusing to young women, myself being no acception. I have suffered for years on and off with eating disorders and believe if there wasnt all this pressure for females to look a certain way, maybe the countries youth would have a better fighting chance.
BB
Apr 16, 2008 at 4:03 am
LA is a breeding ground for a loss of appetite. It’s amazing and without fail - everytime I’m back in that city, I refuse to eat.
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