There has always been pressure to stay thin – it might be intensified in the spotlight, but many of us feel the pressure to lose weight all of the time. These 5 celebrities all believe there is a huge amount of pressure, especially on women, to always look extremely svelte and if they put on even a small amount of weight or weigh more than the average celebrity, they are instantly called out for any weight gain. Some have even experienced it after giving birth which simply isn’t fair as they even haven’t had time to lose their baby weight, while others have suffered from eating disorders because they felt an immense pressure to look as thin as possible.
Demi Lovato
Demi, who has previously suffered from an eating disorder, says that some of her issues have stemmed from the pressure to be thin: “One of the reasons why I became so outspoken when I decided to come out of treatment and talk about my issues was because when I grew up I was dealing with the pressures to be thin. It was the time in the tabloids when very, very skinny girls were on the cover of every magazine and that’s what I was looking up to. That’s what I had to idolise.”
Felicity Huffman
Felicity thinks that all women feel the pressure even if they aren’t in the spotlight, as her own mother had weight issues even in old age: “The pressure on women to be thin is like a plague. I have gone through my life, like a lot of women, rating my experiences on the basis of, ‘Was I thin at that time or fat?’ And it doesn’t seem to let up. In her 70s and 80s my mother was still saying, ‘I’ve got to lose weight.’ I would do anything to save my daughters from that pain. I know they will probably have to go through heartbreak but I would just love it if they didn’t hate their bodies.”
Hilary Duff
Hilary finds the constant emphasis placed on weight to be extremely harmful to those who feel sensitive about the subject when it shouldn’t even be a topic that is reported on: “If you don’t like the way you look or feel insecure, when people say things about you – in magazines or just in everyday life – they can be hurtful. But you’ll never make them happy.”
Jennifer Lawrence
Jennifer Lawrence is often called out for weight but she is sick of the paparazzi reporting on it: ”Oh god, yes, I’m so tied of the lollipops. I mean, if I looked like that I wouldn’t be tired of it, obviously, but it’s hilarious, the way I’m supposedly the overweight one. Like, they (the paparazzi) got me at the movies yesterday and the caption read something like, ‘Curvy star cannot wait to dig into a tub of popcorn’. I mean come on! I’m just a normal girl who likes to eat! At least they got me using me hands.”
Keira Knightley
Keira is regularly slammed for being too thin but still believes there is huge pressure of actresses to look their thinnest: “Whatever people say about my weight they are all wrong. There is pressure to be thin in Hollywood because it’s all about the way you look. But I’m not going to apologise for the way I look. If you’re strong and comfortable with yourself then you’re going to be fine.”
