Is Willow too willowy? Should Buffy buff up a little bit? (Should Beth take a blood oath to refrain from bad puns in the future?)

Seriously ... are Jennifer Aniston, Calista Flockhart, and Lara Flynn Boyle endangering their own health and setting a scary example for young women, or are they just doing what they have to do to keep their jobs? Do you buy the "naturally skinny" excuse for any of the so called lollipops who have clearly lost a great deal of weight over the years? Are you sick of the very subject?

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

Answers

It's sad and unnatural. These women may be little, but they're not naturally that skinny. They do set a bad example, because they contribute to the number of scarily skinny women we see all the bloody time. However, it's not their fault. The whole Hollywood system is to blame.

The interesting thing will be the state these actresses will be in once they hit their 40s and 50s. The female body does not age well if it hasn't been well-nourished.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

I think it's cruel to say, but it'll take one of them actually dying for actresses in Hollywood to wake up. (Or for fans to wake up, more likely.) We've had the scare stories about anorexic TV actresses for quite some time (Tracey Gold almost died, and was very public about her illness), yet that hasn't changed this disturbing trend.

No matter how much people complain about the skeletal look that's trendy today, it's still trendy. It's either going to take something drastic (like Calista Flockhart keeling over at the Emmys, or something) to change it, or the trend will change gradually over time.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

Didn't Jennifer Aniston have to lose like 30 pounds before "Friends" went on air? I *know* she wasn't always as thin as she is now.

Yes, I think it is a bad example. No, I don't think it is an accident. What will virtually *any* older Hollywood former starlet say - "Well, I got addicted to the diet pills because there was so much pressure on me to be thin."

Admittedly, there are those blessed souls in the world who naturally weigh in at between 90-110 lbs. However, they are few and far between and I *seriously* doubt that *all* of them want Hollywood careers. Statistically the chances of that are nil.

Lara Flynn Boyle looks like a skeleton, as does Flockhart. Aniston & Cox-Arquette don't look quite as bad, but I also haven't seen them yet this season... That isn't to say they don't look terrible.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

The interesting thing will be the state these actresses will be in once they hit their 40s and 50s. The female body does not age well if it hasn't been well-nourished.

We all posted at the same time... Cox-Arquette doesn't look as young as she did before. Her face is really aging. And she'll hit her 40's soon.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

Courtney Cox (I can't bring myself to type her stupid husband's stupid name) ought to be a lesson to any woman looking to starve herself. She looks a hundred years old. She looks like she could be Ross's mother.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

And what about Sarah Jessica Parker? I caught a few minutes of some dreadful film she did with Bruce Willis on cable the other night. I'd guess that it was made about 5 or 6 years ago, and she looked like a completely different person - much younger and more robust.

Now she just looks like a terrifying horse's skull.

I will say that I met Calista Flockhart last summer when she was performing in a play written by a friend of mine. She was very, very thin, but it appeared to be natural. She didn't look unhealthy, just small.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

I was reading Us Weekly for the Survivor cover story, and I was unfortunate enough to come across pictures of Faith Hill "then and now." She was very thin to begin with, but now she's just skeletal. When one's ribcage is clearly visible when one wears a low-cut dress, doesn't one realize how grotesque one looks? One wonders!

I thought that this was a great article on this topic.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

I don't know. I don't think Jennifer Aniston is all that disturbing. I know that she did have to lose quite a bit of weight to "make it" which is sad, but i find she still looks fairly healthy. I've also seen an article (long ago, can't quote where it was from, sorry!) that showed celebrity diets (which is scary in of itself - how to be as thin as your favorite star!) and i remember that Jen's was actually decent. She didn't starve, she ate a lot of grains and fruits and veggies, and small portions of protein and carbs. It could be worse.

I think that maybe Calista is due to stress. I don't know. She was very low profile on stage and Ally McBeal threw her into a whole new acting world and maybe stress caused her to lose so much weight, but then again maybe she really is starving herself.

I thought Allyson and Sarah looked okay last time i checked, but i lived without cable through a season and a half of Buffy (ack ack ack!) so i can't say for sure now.

I don't know how much of a lesson would be learned from a related death. Karen Carpenter began starving herself after a thoughtless reporter referred to her as "chunky" or "tubby" or some equivalent. She died of anorexia, and that didn't seem to change much of anything.

Then there's the extreme of Pamela Anderson who allegedly bypasses dieting by opting to have surgery. Is it really true that she had her floating ribs removed? Because that's just gross. Besides, i think she looked a whole lot more beautiful pre-surgery, pre-big- hair, pre-mega-makeup, and pre-Tommy Lee.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

Jennifer Aniston's former personal trainer has said in interviews that Aniston subscribes to a low carb diet -- no fruit, few veggies, high fat, high protein. She eats mostly meat.

And that floating rib removal is a very old urban legend that has been applied to a lot of celebrities, usually Cher. It isn't true.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

More on the missing rib legend.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

The actress I worry about the most is Paula Devicq (Kirsten on Party of Five). By the end of the series last spring, she was so scary looking, and her hair seemed to be falling out.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

I am sick of watching female celebs starve themselves, and it bothers me to hear women of my age (35ish)obsess about their weight. I know several very successful, smart women who are doing a great job juggling family and career, have good marriages, find time to keep up with their interests, etc. None of them is overweight, but every one of them would tell you that she would give up a lot to lose weight.

If I were a feminist, this would be the torch I would pick up (now that business casual has done away with mandatory panty hose in the workplace). When's the last time you met a successful man who obsessed about losing ten pounds?

I look at the film stars of the Marilyn Monroe era, and they were generally slender, but except for Audrey Hepburn none of them looked perpetually hungry. So, obviously there could be another standard for beauty.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

Kathy Griffith, one of my favorite actresses (the "wacky redhead" on Suddenly Susan) wrote a really good article for Cosmo about her experience with liposuction. Griffith is a size 4 and she says that almost all the actresses you see on tv are a size 2 or smaller. She had liposuction done and it was a horrible experience, she lost too much blood and the surgery damaged her bladder and she had to be catheterized several times because fluids backed up into her kidneys. And after all that, the surgery didn't even take and she didn't lose any inches.

It's all very sad. I hadn't noticed Alyson Hannigan being thinner lately, but SMG and Charisma Carpenter definitely are. C.C. is another one who looks about 20 years older than she is.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

I recently saw pictures of Maria Shriver when she was much younger - she had more weight on her, but she was just beautiful. Amazingly beautiful -like a whole other person. Now I think she looks like a horse skull.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

the thing that scares me is when women have That Bump, instead of cleavage. you know, the bump your sternum makes when it is more prominent than your breasts. Victoria Beckham (posh spice) sported it on the catwalk.. Having had several friends with eating disorders, it's pretty easy to see signs on various women in the public eye. I find it very disturbing.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

It frightens me that so many women do this to themselves.

I want to tie them down and make them eat. How anyone can find a skeleton attractive is beyond me.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

I think Jennifer Aniston is on the Zone diet. Actually, for an interesting view of the nutritional benefits/dangers of this and other popular diets, iVillage.com's Diet's A - Z is a useful tool. The Zone diet doesn't rate well.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

Here is that link.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

Jennifer Anniston's personal trainer (Kathy Kaehler) has distanced herself from Jennifer recently (in magazines) because she lost a lot of weight in what Kaehler thought was an unhealthy way (low carbs, I think). I thought Jennifer looked better before, as did many of these women when they were larger. But Sarah Michelle Gellar looks the same to me--she's always been pretty thin.

I know a lot of guys who find extreme skinniness to be unattractive. But someone must find it attractive, or why would so many women aspire to be that way? :( While I think certain women are way "too thin" (for example, Paula Devicq), I look at others who are probably also too thin and I think about how great it would be to look like that...and end up feeling terrible about myself. I envy their self-control, while at the same time thinking it's sad and unnecessary.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

At my place of work, we get a steady diet of People magazines--so I'm rather handy on topics such as this.

Yep, Jen Aniston is on the Zone diet. I think I read that one about 2 months ago. She was on the cover, some article about actresses starving themselves. If you actually watch the Friends reruns in syndication, the first two or three seasons she was probably about 20- 25 lbs. heavier than she is now. I remember reading somewhere that it became a part of her contract or the Friends producers put that stipulation in--that she had to lose that weight. Courteney Cox has just always been one of the Bone people. I refer to the Springsteen video "Dancing in the Dark". That was 20 years ago and she was a pole then.

Calista never struck me as anorexic, she just seems like Cox, one of the Bone people. They can't help it, I've had friends with various medical conditions (hyperthyroidism, etc.) who were Bone people themselves, and they HATED their bodies. There's a skinny-pretty and a skinny-scary. Calista walks that line. Lara is skinny-scary.

That Party of Five girl is just plain frightening. She looks so very ill. Ick.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

I would buy that Calista and Courteney are naturally thin, but if you ever see reruns of Courteney on Family Ties or Calista in The Birdcage, they still had to have weighed more than they do now. Same with Sarah Michelle Gellar in earlier seasons of Buffy.

What pisses me off more is that when a female celebrity does gain a little weight, she gets ripped for it in the press. Regardless of your feelings on the Britney Spears breast implant issue, she has clearly gained weight in the past few years, because she hit puberty. She's got hips now, and she looks like a woman. And yet I have seen people say she's getting fat. Plus, no one seems to write feature articles about Matthew Perry and/or Matt LaBlanc packing on some pounds since the early days of the sitcom. Or look at the Chris in the Morning guy on Sex and the City. But they are seen as sexy, despite their weight gain. Ugh.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

Charisma Carpenter...is another one who looks about 20 years older than she is.

Charisma is somewhere around 35, so that explains why she looks older- - she is (older than her character, that is. I'm not implying 35 is old!). But I think another reason is the fact that she's so tanned. Skin damage. Plus her screen makeup. I dunno, I'm just guessing.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

I agree with you about the skin damage, but according to the IMDB, she's a little younger than I am. Which would make her about 30. Which is much, MUCH younger than 35. Not that 35 is old. I'm just not almost 35 yet, okay?

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

Calista did a movie a few years back, was it "Birdcage"?. Look at her then, and in her stage role photos, and look at her now. I just could never believe that weight loss is natural, especially if you look at her on tv now - she used to have this great, reddish brown hair, and now it is like limp strands of dishwater, and the fact that her upper arms are now thinner than her elbow are dead give aways to eating disorder.

I don't generally buy the 'naturally skinny' thing that actresses sometimes use as an escuse - some actresses, like Sarah Jessica Parker, well, she has been a skinny, skinny girl from the beginning - remember her on 'Square Pegs"? But geez, when you see them go from normal to stick thin - how stupid do they think we are? Jennifer Aniston, how stupid do you think we are?

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

I remember watching "Birdcage" when it came out and thinking that Calista looked terrible. She looked really emaciated and she had these big dark circles under her eyes...she looked like she had AIDS or cancer or some other terrible wasting disease.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

I would be really, really wary of taking anything you read in a celeb magazine like "People" to be gospel. They lie. No, really, they do. Yes, there are naturally thin women, and there are women who purge constantly and use cocaine to keep their weight down. They all say they're naturally skinny.

I think there's such an unnatural obsession with weight because of how they look on screen -- I think many of these women look frightening in real life. (Frighteningly thin.)

The feedback from the public is atrocious. How many times have you heard about how fat Kate Winslet is? I've heard lots of people say Tara on "Buffy" is fat, and while I can't remember her exact measurements off-hand, she's about a size 4. it's ridiculous.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

Yeah, that's true, the articles never mention drugs. You know there has to be coke or crank involved in some of these situations. (I did read that about the women on Friends ... I think the drug mentioned was cocaine.)

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

It's disgusting how everyone has to weigh 89 pounds or gets ripped on in the press/at work/etc. in that field. I wonder how Buffy can even beat up on people when she weighs 90 pounds. I don't worry so much when the girl's short (I'm one of those "naturally skinny" ones- 5'4, weight ranges from 105-110), but tall ones who are a size 2, my God. I don't even know how they FIT into size 2's. I can't even find long enough pants unless they're an 8. (Oh wait, they probably all have couture or something :P )

I'm sick of hearing "So-and-so's SO FAT." I want to go "You wanna see FAT? Go find some REAL fat people and shut the hell up!!!" I used to have a friend in OA and she'd go on about how she thought her life would be so much better if she were only skinny. Well, I guess this comes true in the celeb's case (money, fame). But there's a lot more ripping on the "fat" chicks than there ever is skinny.

The casting that annoys me is Renee Zellweger as Bridget Jones. I wanted Kate Winslet (who can actually do an English accent and isn't itty-bitty! Though I thought she looked pretty thin at times in Titanic). But I heard they made a big deal in Vanity Fair about how she's *gaining* weight for the role. (Yeah, like, 5 pounds?! If that!) I doubt the movie'll make the point like the book did that being totally scrawny doesn't make you look good (though I guess Bridget didn't learn too well, she was so happy to be twiglike after getting out of that jail in the next book). And men can pork themselves up (I'm surprised Mr. Saturday Night Fever can even dance these days) and with nary a comment from the press.

I won't even discuss ballet or gymnastics, but will recommend people reading "Little Girls in Pretty Boxes" if you're interested. Even scarier. At least these actresses aren't doing very hard work with their twiglike bodies. And while I know light weight is required for those sports, they seem to have a problem distinguishing how light is too light.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

*sigh*

This issue keeps popping up and I find myself on both sides of the fence.

Yes, I think that some of these ladies look unnaturally thin -- but some people _are_ just naturally that way. Also a number of them are moving into their thirties now, no longer adolescents with that 'baby-faced' look, while the bumski and the thighs and the waist thicken with age, the face tends to thin, unless you gain weight, so looking at a woman's face to gauge her weight isn't necessarily a good measure.

However, sternum bones, arm thickness and general visibility of bones are good places to look, because generally these are places where excess stuff hangs out -- like the underarm flab thing.

I'm going to pick on Sarah Jessica Parker a little bit because I think that she _has_ shown a _huge_ change from her earlier days. People change over time, but I think that her case is rather extreme.

Now first off, let me say that yes, SJP has always been slender and she was only 20 when she made "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" in 1985 (with Helen Hunt, someone else who's gone from healthily slender, to practically skeletal and just in the last two years or so. She looked good in the early part of 'Mad About You' -- now she's a stick) so some latent adolescent baby fat was probably still sticking around. But if you contrast the SJP who made that film, with the SJP I saw on "Sex in the City" you'd be hard pressed to thing they were the same person.

"Girls Just Want to Have Fun" was a dance movie, one in which SJP got to show off her abilities as a dancer and a gymnast, and she looked nice -- slender, but with a dancer's physique, muscular, but still 'soft'.

If you look at her any night on HBO in "Sex in the City" chances are she's wearing something clinging and revealing and all you see is bones and some _very_ tight muscles. In fact all that revealing clothing doesn't look terribly nice, because her elbows, collarbone, sternum and knees are all poking out. Her elegant clothes _hang_ off of her, and she seems to be made up of only wiry sinew and bone especially on the arms and legs -- something that usually doesn't happen until the body ages considerably and bone loss sets in.

Even more interesting on this particular show is how all of the 'younger' women are very thin, even Kristin Davis who is the 'plumper' Charlotte, while the 'older' woman, played by Kim Cattrall who is only 44, is also 'plumper'. And I wouldn't call Ms. Cattrall 'plump' by any stretch of the means, except that she does _look_ plump next to the other three.

Here's some photographic evidence, if you will:

http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/5159/sexcity4.jpg -- is a publicity shot for "Sex and the City" -- note the extreme dip ofher upper arm just above the elbow ... which is absent in ..

This slightly older shot: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/5159/image912.jpg

Is this natural skinniness? If Sarah Jessica Parker was skinny before ... she's even skinnier now. And to be honesy, I liked the way she looked better before. Now she kind of scares me.

But maybe I'm just jealous because I'm fat and I'll never be able to achieve anything remotely close to such slenderness.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

beth, i couldn't agree with you more about sarah jessica parker. i remember watching her in a short-lived tv show, equal justice, back in 1990. i wish i could find some pictures online of her from that show, because the difference is amazing.

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2000

What I object to is the saluting of people for showing a 'realistic' or 'curvy' shape when they patently don't. Ms Winslet, I think, actually does have a nice normal figure. but more often than not, she has to justify herself - luckily she seems to be sorted enough not to go the way of the lolly. No, the one that gets really gets me is: Jennifer Lopez. Oh yes, the latino queen of all that's curvy tits 'n' ass...except that you can see her pelvic bones poking out under her skin.

The obvious danger is that one stops being able to distinguish what's normal and what's not. I shocked myself reading a recent fashion magazine which had an article on a clinic treating anorexic women. I looked at the pictures and saw nothing abnormal. Just thin people.

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2000

Kim, i agree with you totally. It disgusts me when the press goes nuts because someone put on a few (usually healthy) pounds. Remember when they referred to Alicia Silverstone as "FatGirl" instead of "BatGirl"? Please. Yeah she looked big standing among stick figures, but dammit she looked good.

Same for Kate Winslet who looks fantastic. Someone i know asked me about Drew Barrymore, "Is she getting fat?" He wasn't being malicious, he just meant in the terms that Hollywood isn't that accepting of weight. I said no she isn't fat, she just looks bigger than she is because of everyone else around her.

Know what scares me? I'm one of those naturally thin people (not boney, but thin). I wear anything from a seize 3 to a size 5 depending on the cut and style - and yet i'd probably be considered "big" and in need of cutting back a bit of weight because who wears a size 5 in Hollywood? Hell, half the actresses out there are wearing a size ZERO. What the fuck is a size ZERO?!

Next up: Negative size clothing, for the stick figure in you!

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2000

It's kind of a mess of a movie, but rent "Holy Smoke" to see how absolutely gorgeous Kate Winslet looks. She looks like a normal woman, with curves and weight on her bones. She is radiant, even in this movie set largely in the Australian desert. Wow.

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2000

When I think of beautiful, I think of health and radiance and womanliness, like Kate Winslet.

I got really angry when I picked up an issue of People and they mentioned Rene Z. had to gain weight for the role of Bridget Jones.

I never got that impression, AT ALL, from the book. B. Jones obsessed over weighing 125 lbs and that was the joke, because OF COURSE 125 lbs ISN"T HEAVY (unless you are a midget!). The book (I felt) was trying to convey that the problem was all in Bridget's mind.

I'm sad to see that the people in charge of the film missed this point entirely, but yet it is so typical.

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2000

I'm so very worried about this whole Bridget movie for other reasons (pardon the tangent). I loved the book SO much. The second was good as well, but not as much. But ohhhh the first book - i read it so quickly and if i didn't have a need to work and stuff i would have likely read it in one fell swoop.

I am terrified at what they might do to it with the movie. And Renee Zellwhatever is okay, but i just really didn't see her as playing Bridget. Kate? Yes. Renee? No.

If they totally ruin it with the movie i may have to kill someone.

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2000

But "Bridget Jones" is about a selfish, self-absorbed, not-especially- bright girl. Renee sounds perfect.

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2000

And Renee Zellwhatever is okay, but i just really didn't see her as playing Bridget. Kate? Yes. Renee? No.

Not to mention the fact that Bridget Jones is British, and they've chosen a bloody American acttress to play her - cue the doeful Gwyneth Paltroweque bad English accents.

I'm warning you all now - if the powers that be try and set Harry Potter in the USA I'm going to go postal.

-- Anonymous, August 18, 2000

I read an interview: J.K. Rowling assures us that Potter will be an all-British cast. Off-topic, but I hope you're calmed.

-- Anonymous, August 18, 2000

The thing that is most disturbing about the whole lollipop girl trend (big head on a stick body, like a lollipop) in Hollywood, beyond the double standard previously mentioned, is the fact that it's given an excuse for every woman in Hollywood to now be *publicly* dissected down to being nothing more than the sum of her various parts (sternum, elbows and thighs!) and unless you're one of the anointed beautiful ones right in the middle, your physicality is more often mentioned than your acheivements or your talent.

Wait, nevermind, I know why. It's because Courtney and Jennifer don't have Emmys, the normal sized Lisa Kudrow does. And Lara Flynn Boyle has to cast sideways glances at Camryn Manheim for the same reason. Oops. Lollipop girls get mentioned for their lollipopness because there's nothing else to mention!

-- Anonymous, August 18, 2000

society has a lot to answer for. i see adverts in the paper by cosmetic surgeons, saying they can "cure" cellulite. there's before and after photos, of a COMPLETELY NORMAL looking woman with perfectly normal thighs. that's the first photo. of course the second photo shows her with smooth thin thighs. what does this say to women who read the paper? it says if you have dimpled fat on your thighs, it's a disease that can be cured. this is just one example ... there are hundreds of them ... telling women that there is something WRONG with the shape of their bodies.

-- Anonymous, August 18, 2000

My husband told me that he thinks Drew Barrymore and Kate Winslet are fat. When he told me that I was like, okay maybe Kate is a little chubby but Drew?? She only weighs 120 lbs. and is 5'4"! Give the woman a break. ( I'm 5'6" & between 110-115 lbs.) Drew may not be itty bitty, but she certainly looks healthier than celebs like Calista, Sara Jessica Parker & Lara Flynn Boyle.

-- Anonymous, March 16, 2001

I'm sorry, what? Kate Winslet fat? Does your husband spend a lot of time with Playboy propped up on his lap? Is that where he's getting this bizarre ideal-woman thing? And you saying she's chubby?

That just totally boggles my fucking mind.

The other fun thing that totally boggles my mind is the idea that ideal weight, and size, and the appropriate size for women can be boiled down to a weight/height chart, or held up as a shining example of someone in perfect shape. Sometimes I forget that we're still living in a world where Cosmopolitan is taken seriously.

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001

I think that all those women are beautiful no matter what size they are. Eating disorders hit people and are hard to control. I'm pretty sure most of you who are critisizing them have no clue but have you ever thought that they can't control themselves? Some are "naturally skinny" and for those who aren't, give them a break. Its not YOU, and yes, they are messing themselves up but I'm sure they know that too.

-- Anonymous, April 13, 2001

You know what? When you want something more than anything else in the world (like an acting career) you will stop at nothing to have it. Whatever these women are doing with their bodies may not be right or just, but they all look fabulous and most people who rag on them have bodies that they are not pleased with and who better to pick on than someone you are jealous of. Thanks, Kevin

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2001

Shut up, Kevin.

It's weird ... I'm reading over this thread almost a year after we first posted it, and something is occuring to me. I do think most of the women we mentioned *are* way too thin, but some of the indicators y'all are using to determine who's naturally thin and who has an eating disorder aren't really very reliable. The boney wrists, upper arms that are narrower than elbows, and the boney sternum? Some of those things are just body type. Me, I'm boney even when I'm not particularly thin. Now that I'm in my thirties my upper arms are finally bigger than my elbows, but that wasn't the case when I was younger. I have boobs *and* a boney sternum. You can easily wrap your fingers completely around one of my ankles, but I'm 5'6 and 130 pounds, which isn't anorexic by any stretch of the imagination.

I don't know that that means anything; it just struck me that we all tend to judge other people by our *own* body standards, which isn't really fair any way you look at it.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2001

Personally, I do think that the actresses have set a horrible example for teenagers. I'm 16 years old, I weigh 148 and I am 5'9. Thanks to all of the media and teens at my school for obsessing over thin bony bodies I have become obsessed with getting down to 120lbs. If it wasn't for the media and teens here at school I probably wouldn't be so worried. I have starved myself on and off for a little over a year now and lost 39lbs. My goal is to look like Jessica Simpson, but it depends on if I will still look fat at 120lbs. I have a fear of losing my boobs too because I am a 36d, but I will do whatever it takes to get to 120lbs. I am pretty sure that all the celebrities aren't just naturally skinny. The more weight their managers tell them to lose, the mor jobs they get.

-- Anonymous, May 07, 2001

I think jenn could stand to gain 5 pounds, courteney cox needs to gain about 20, back in the earlier episodes of friends she looked good with her shag haircut..

matthew perry has been ragged about losing weight, thats why he was taking drugs.. chrystee

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2001

fucking fags!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! fucking biotches!!!!!!!!!!fucking cuntlickers

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2001

Now that was certainly exhilarating.

Mikey, honey, do you have something you'd like to get off your chest? We're here to help.

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2001

It's interesting that this topic popped back up now - J. and I were commenting after Buffy the other night that SMG has just lost waaaay too much weight. She is still much too young for her face to have that pinched, emaciated look. She just looked ill. I hope she does lots of eating and not much working over the summer.

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2001

I agree with what you said. Supermodels today are way tooo thin. While I don't prefer large women, I don't have to be able to count ribs either...

It is good to see sites like the Freshman 15 Challenge that actually promote weight gain instead of loss.

I just found this thread earliear today while searching for information about Rene Zellweger. I may have to watch "Bridget Jone's Diary" to see how she looks heavier.

I must go now, but I'll check back.

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

Skinny girl's rule! Who wants to date a girl with flab on them? When a girl sits down and leans foward, there should be no eveidence of fat there. If so, lose it you fat pig! Fat people are lazy, they would not be able to keep up with Calista!

-- Anonymous, June 20, 2001

Man, I love you, Cory.

-- Anonymous, June 21, 2001

One of the things I find really scary is that the surgery being used to help obese people reach a normal weight (gastric bypass -- which I've had) is supposedly being used by normal weight female stars to become unhealthily thin. It makes your stomach very small, to hold very little food, and bypasses a section of the intestines so that not as many calories are absorbed.

On some of the email lists I'm on, weight loss surgery patients in California are hearing the staff at their doctors office talk about the number of actresses that are willing to pay cash for the surgery, because there's no way their insurance companies will cover it.

I have no respect for the doctors who are willing to do it, though. To me, it makes sense to do it for people with fucked up metabolism and clear medical needs like obesity, which has so many bad health risks all by itself. But to do it for a normal weight person? Completely unethical, IMO.

Lisa

-- Anonymous, June 22, 2001

A lot of people have commented on how actresses were healthier looking in their earlier work, and have become thinner and thinner as the years progress.

I wonder if this has something to do with the stress and schedules of being a television actress as opposed to just doing movies or only doing occasional tv spots. If you're working a 14 hour day and your boss is there constantly, you're not going to slip up purposely. While for most of us, slipping up might be going on the Internet during work time or whatever, for an actress, eating in front of your producers might be a no-no.

Who are we to speculate, I guess...

-- Anonymous, June 24, 2001

HI Everyone, Came upon this "interesting" site (to say the least) while doing some research on anorexia; which happens to be the disease I have dealt w/ for 13 years now. I am a successful 28 year-old living in NYC- totally financially secure due to my own ambition and entrepreneurship. Yet, in lieu of all this success, I am ANOREXIC. I know that word seems to freak a lot of you out. Most of you have been throwing that term around like most people throw around the word "love". I find it most amusing that it's the "larger" people that seem to have the most defensive reaction against thinness.

Now... if you were truly objective about the DISEASE anorexia- not personally subjective- about this subject, I would have gotten through at least 50 of these posts without reading the words gross, ugly, horse face, etc. Instead, I would have seen more compassionate posts that only a precious few of you have written regarding the danger and sadness of this disease (God bless you!!!). For those of you who claim anorexia to be a condition of vanity or selfishness, GO TO HELL. That's like being afraid of contact w/ someone who is HIV+! MOST of us "true anorexics" are the most empathetic and giving people you will ever meet. In fact, it is actually part of the description of the typical person that might develop this disorder. If this is about vanity, how would you explain the fact that most of my life I have existed in a condition that has been distasteful to most men?! And I didn't care! I wanted to disappear, NOT BE RECOGNIZED! If any of these actresses are truly anorexic, hurt for them as you would hurt for someone who has battled depression or cancer or any other disease with which you can identify.

Anyway, I could go on... my final point is this- I DID NOT CHOOSE ANOREXIA. I AM NOT PROUD OF ANOREXIA. AND I HAVE STRUGGLED FOR MANY YEARS TRYING TO LIVE A NORMAL LIFE W/OUT ANOREXIA! So for those of you ready to jump down my throat after this post- go do your homework first before you decide to become JOE PHILOSOPHER about something of which you have no F-ing clue! Sherri

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001

Okay, you convinced me that anorexics are kind and gentle. You get two points.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001

Duuuddde. She totally planted her boney little foot in your asses. You should all be ashamed. Get 'em Sherri.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001

I find it most amusing that it's the "larger" people that seem to have the most defensive reaction against thinness.

Oh, yeah. The empathy is just pouring out of that line.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001

I just want to say that you all who are talking about these celebrities being extremely thin and they never really were-- hey, that's life. I don't see anything that's humiliating about that. It is such a poor example for them to starve themselves for some "identity" that women celebrities "should" have. Whatever! But just to let you all know, I am 5"6 and only weigh 116 pounds. Everyday I get compliments on my thinness and people think I should be a supermodel and so on. Truthfully, modeling would be fun for me, but I have ALWAYS been thin- I was teased all my life as a kid, when I became a teenager and a cheerleader I started to build muscle and my legs were really healthy looking. But, if I started modeling and they told me- "Well, we need you to lose a couple of pounds, blah blah"- I would say TO HELL WITH THEM! I am only thin because it's hereditary and I've always been that way. I have a strong desire to gain weight in certain places only like my thighs, arms, and butt. But that's it. Also, it is a difference between looking slim and looking ill. I am just slim, but sometimes I really feel uncomfortable with my size. I feel like I could seriously use at least 15 more pounds. Also, being African-American 21-year old- most girls of my race are usually thick and have nicely curvy shapes or they are just simply too damn big! I am an outcast of being really thin, but you know what? There is so much more to me than just my body. I have gotten to the point where I could care less about what anyone thinks about me, I am my own person and we all are different in size, shape, personality, whatever! So those out there who have a complex- be yourself and know that you are noone else!

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2001

Beth, remember when you became a teenager and a cheerleader? That was quite a birthday. You should be (not just a model, but) a supermodel. I would, but I have a strong desire to lose weight in certain places only like my thighs, arms, and butt. Truthfully, modeling would be fun for me.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2001

Amy, there is so much more to you than just your body. Come be cheerleaders with me!

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2001

Well, OK, but only because my legs are really healthy looking.

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2001

I LOVE THE THIN PEOPLE. THEY MAKE ME HAPPY. I WANT TO BE ONE OF THEM. I'M TRYING AND THEY INSPIRE ME. OH YEAH!

-- Anonymous, July 15, 2001

You can *look* like you took about ten pounds off if you stop writing in all caps. Check it out:

HERE ARE MY THIGHS.

now compare:

here are my thighs.

No dieting needed! Now, do we still suck??? <;-P

-- Anonymous, July 15, 2001

H - you're killing me over here. Seriously.

-- Anonymous, July 16, 2001

Don't die until you've met my puppy. He's damn cute. And very large (55 lbs at 4.5 months right now). And besides, I need to know, does all this fur make him look fat?

www.geocities.com/igolder/puppy/051901-03squeaktoy.jpg

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2001

Hey, that's my arm and my pasty white leg.

He's the cutest puppy ever.

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2001

Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox and Calista Flockhart look half dead. The starved unhealthy look is not attractive at all in my opinion. Their faces seem to age much faster as well.

Kate Winslet has been mentioned a few times on this thread and I have to agree, she is beautiful and radiant. If young girls are looking for an example for body size I hope they choose someone like her. I've seen her in several movies. Some she's thinner than others. But in all of them she looks healthy.

I like watching movies from the 30's and 40's and the women in those old films seemed to have the healthy, shapely look and not the starved Kate Moss look. If only that could be the vogue look again.

Who actually likes the starved starlet though? I've never spoken to anyone who does...

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2001

Oh my achin head that puppy is so cute I just want to cry.

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2001

What a cute puppy! But does he know he is sitting next to a teen Supermodel and Cheerleader?

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2001

I assure you, the puppy was all aflutter. He knew. Oh, yeah, he knew.

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2001

I'm not sure what all of this cheerleader and supermodel stuff is about, but I hope there will be a journal entry on it sometime.

Man, that dog really is cute.

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2001

About Kate Winslet - I was just reading the recent issue of US (my secret shame) and ran across a small picture of Kate Winslet and her husband. It was contained in an article about a movie opening and had nothing to do with actresses or their weight. The caption underneath began "The newly svelte Kate Winslet...". That shit annoys me.

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2001

This is probably a really stupid question, but here goes. When women have that stomach stapling surgery, so their stomach is only two tablespoons big---they lose a bunch of weight, really quickly. But how does the body know when to stop? Wouldn't they just keep losing weight until they starved to death?

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2001

Dawn: That shit annoys me, as well. US is consistent when commenting on the weight of stars, though. Back in '94, they referred to Paula Abdul (okay, so "star" may be stretching it), who had JUST admitted to struggling with bulimia as looking "pudgy".

I only remember that particular incident because I sent a letter to the editor and they published it. My claim to fame, defending Paula Abdul, awww yeah.

Susan - at some point, they stabilize, and from all I've read about it, it's unusual for someone who's had their stomach stapled to actually reach their goal weight; generally they hover 10 or 20 pounds above where they'd like to be.

--Robyn "Know it all" Anderson.

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2001

why do you people scoff at the thin? im 17 5'7 and weigh 91 pounds. Your just jealous because of your rolls it looks good when your ribs stivk out better then flab anyway!!!

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2001

We don't scoff at the thin. Didn't you hear whatsisname? WE LOVE THE THIN PEOPLE! We only scoff at people who can't punctuate properly.

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2001

Hello everyone, As such, I have stumbled upon this site while surfing on the web about eating disorders. I'm not sure how I feel about what I've read so far. It seems to me that most of you are *bashing* actresses who are thin/skinny/emaciated-looking... and are pretty fast in labelling them as anorectic.. and commenting on how *gross*,*skeletal*,*horse- skull* etc they all look...

Not that I am defending the anorexia or anything.. but I see nothing wrong in being thin and wanting to be slimmer than one actually was. No one seems to realise that obesity is also a disease in itself. Just because someone is skinny that do not immediately place him/her in the ED group. True that most of the actresses are looking worse than they first started but then again, all the stress that comes with stardom and the media may be taking toil on them as well. I know girls who seem to lost so much weight overnight due to examination stress or work schedules that they are being accused of being anorectic... as if they needed more problems.

My ppoint in this is that as the media has a habit of making false or trivial details seem out of proportion with the actual truth. That is what entertainment is for.. to sensationalise (see what it is doing to all you pple?)

I am glad that most of you are worried about these skinnies health... but please curb the name-calling. If indeed, they do suffer some form of ED, there are alot of other elements to contribute to it and like any other psyhological disease, it is not something to be scoffed about lightly. Anorexia is not a call for attention or a purely vanity thing,, like smoking.. it is an addiction and often than not, a cry for help.

Thanks for reading.

-- Anonymous, July 28, 2001

It looks good for your ribs to stick out! That is disgusting and nauseous. Most men like women with some meat on them-not women who look like bones.

-- Anonymous, July 29, 2001

Mmmmmmmmmmm.... ribs.

-- Anonymous, July 29, 2001

This site is a little crazy. I have to admit I was sitting at work (where I sit for 8 hrs. straight getting chubbier by the second) and decided to search for diet info. I'm not fat, but my sedentary day life doesn't help my ass size. My size 8 is stretching comfortably into a ten. Size 8 or 10 isn't bad if you have the toned, muscle body, madonna type arms. However, this is not me. So anyway, I'm searching for skinny celebrity info to find the secret to weight loss success. It's awful, I admit it. Their really thin, some are kind of gross but a part of me would like to be like that. The tiny, fragile, thin, delicate, vamp. Wearing low slung tight pants and a sexy shirt. To not have to think about sucking in. After reading all the above comments something hit home. Thin isn't everything, health is. I just need to exercise. I love the athletic look, it's empowering. Lifting weights raises the metabolism, thus some fat loss. So my final thought is: Celebrities present an image that many look up to as the ideal. This ideal image is a facade. A lot are thin, but they are also dressed in custom made designer clothes, have their hair done by professionals to flatter their faces, make-up done etc. etc. They use top hair products, go to spas frequently, manicures, some have buyers, a lot take herbal pills for glowing complexions, shiny hair etc. etc. A lot of work goes into creating their image. Who has the time for all that? Personally I have a lot of better things to do, in order to enjoy and cherish my life than spend it perfecting myself. Their is acceptance and bettering but nobody is perfect. So females stars compete to be thin, who cares? I'll continue to look at pictures of them, pick them apart, envy them and people always will. Celebs know that. It's the stronger ones that ignore the criticism. But I'm happy with myself and ready to pump some iron.

-- Anonymous, August 02, 2001

Amen to that. At last, the FINAL POST in this topic. Thanks for the rousing conclusion.

-- Anonymous, August 02, 2001

Yeah!

-- Anonymous, August 02, 2001