Category: Body Image

Lizzo

LIZZO

“You mean if I lost weight, what would happen? Is my music and my weight so intrinsically connected that if I were to lose weight, I’d lose fans or lose validity? I don’t care! I lead a very healthy lifestyle mentally, spiritually, I try to keep everything I put in my body super clean. Health is something I prioritize, wherever that leads me physically. Like veganism, people were like, ‘You’re a vegan? What are you deep frying the lettuce?’ I’m not a vegan to lose weight, I just feel better when I eat plants. Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, it changes again. I eat when I’m stressed out, sometimes to the point I didn’t realize how much I ate. Anything can be harmful, but it comforts me in a way. It sucks that we associate weight gain with the negative thing that causes it. It’s mixing this beautiful thing that is food and nourishing ourselves with it but it’s the stress that’s bad the bad thing, not the 20 pounds. I feel very lucky because I don’t feel that weight gain is bad anymore. Nor is weight loss, it’s neutral. And food is fun. I love eating, and I have a chef now, and I’m not thinking about it. I had a brownie last night.” VANITY FAIR Magazine

Bella Hadid

BELLA HADID

“I was the uglier sister. I was the brunette. I wasn’t as cool as Gigi, not as outgoing. That’s really what people said about me. And unfortunately, when you get told things so many times, you do just believe it. I always ask myself, how did a girl with incredible insecurities, anxiety, depression, body-image issues, eating issues, who hates to be touched, who has intense social anxiety. What was I doing getting into this business? But over the years I became a good actress. I put on a very smiley face, or a very strong face. I always felt like I had something to prove. People can say anything about how I look, about how I talk, about how I act. But in seven years I never missed a job, canceled a job, was late to a job. No one can ever say that I don’t work my a** off. My immediate trauma response is people-pleasing. It literally makes me sick to my stomach if I leave somewhere and someone is unhappy with me, so I always go above and beyond, but the issue with that is that I get home and I don’t have enough for myself. For so long, I didn’t know what I was crying about. I always felt so lucky, and that would get me even more down on myself. There were people online saying, you live this amazing life. So then how can I complain? I always felt that I didn’t have the right to complain, which meant that I didn’t have the right to get help, which was my first problem. When you are forced to be perfect every day, in every picture, you start to look at yourself and need to see perfection at all times, and it’s just not possible.” Vogue Magazine

Laura Prepon

LAURA PREPON

“I started by making gratitude lists. I write down, using pen and paper, 20 things I’m grateful for. I repeat many of the same things, but every time I write down those people or things (my husband Ben, my health, our children, our future grandchildren, my career, our homes, my friends, hot baths, nourishing food) my heart warms and my whole energy expands. The trick is to be honest about what I’m truly grateful for and not to force things. It’s okay if all I can muster is ‘this bed, this glass of wine, this Planet Earth series,’ as long as I’m telling my truth. After we lost the pregnancy, I started doing positive self-talk out loud to myself. I talked directly to my body. ‘It’s okay,’ I said. ‘Thank you,’ I said, ‘for growing beautiful Ella.’ And as I thought of her, for the first time in days I started welling up with gratitude. ‘I trust we will do this again,’ I said as I remembered that about a fifth of all pregnancies don’t make it all the way. ‘You have a natural wisdom,’ I said, and my body does; I could feel it in my bones. Putting my hands on my head, I said, ‘I love you.’

Moving my hands to my face, I repeated, ‘I love you.’ I covered my arms, my belly, my butt, my legs, down my whole body, and ended at the tips of my toes, ‘I love you.’ And by the end of the exercise, I felt better. I felt connected to my body. I felt love for my body. I started doing this exercise every day, and my physical and mental well-being improved greatly. Then I started doing ‘the talk’ in the shower and it became a habit. You can apply this exercise to anything, whether you’re recovering from an injury or connecting with yourself after a lifetime of body-mind conflict. It’s about being in communication with yourself and appreciating what you have.” People Magazine

Selena Gomez

SELEN GOMEZ

“At one point Instagram became my whole world, and it was really dangerous. In my early 20s, I felt like I wasn’t pretty enough. There was a whole period in my life when I thought I needed makeup and never wanted to be seen without it. The older I got, the more I evolved and realized that I needed to take control of what I was feeling. I wanted to be able to look in the mirror and feel confident to be who I am. Taking a break from social media was the best decision that I’ve ever made for my mental health. I created a system where I still don’t have my passwords. And the unnecessary hate and comparisons went away once I put my phone down. I’ll have a much better relationship with myself. I’m a big believer in therapy, and I always feel so confident when I’m taking care of myself. If I’m not in the best headspace and my friends invite me out, I won’t go. I’ve lost my sense of FOMO, which I’m proud of. Sometimes I push myself too much, and it catches up to me. But I try to balance out everything as best as I can. I like to be there for my friends and celebrate everyone. But I have to make sure that I’m OK, you know? Because if I’m not OK, I can’t be OK for other people. Changing the narrative of mental health and creating a curriculum that hopefully can be implemented in schools or a system for resources that are easily available. I’m just so passionate about that, and I think I will continue to be for the rest of my life. Especially since the pandemic, there are so many people I know who craved help but had no idea how to get it. I have big aspirations for that field and really want to implement more education behind it.” InSTYLE 

Emily Ratajkowski

EMILY RATAJKOWSKI quoted in ELLE Magazine

“You can never win, really. It’s exhausting to compare yourself. It certainly doesn’t lead to any kind of happiness. But there isn’t a woman I know who hasn’t fallen victim to it. I know people who are obsessed with comparing themselves to celebrities, or who still think about that one girl in high school all the time. Even elementary school. We learn this stuff so young. I couldn’t figure out a moment where I’ve been in my body and not self-aware on some level.”

Ann Wilson

ANN WILSON quote in People Magazine

“I was bullied heavily in the 80s, and that was about the only time I let it get to me. I found ways to love life so that I could compartmentalize the notion that somehow I wasn’t good enough. After a while you just kind of go, ‘I am what I am.’ I finally got to that, and I just thought how meaningless it is to judge someone strictly by their appearance. You’re looking at a picture and going, ‘Oh, that’s not right. She’s not following the rules.’ I was never one for rules.”

Beyonce

BEYONCE

“If someone told me 15 years ago that my body would go through so many changes and fluctuations, and that I would feel more womanly and secure with my curves, I would not have believed them. But children and maturity have taught me to value myself beyond my physical appearance and really understand that I am more than enough no matter what stage I’m at in life. Giving zero F’s is the most liberating place to be. Also knowing true beauty is something you cannot see. I wish more people focused on discovering the beauty within themselves rather than critiquing other folks’ grills.” ELLE Magazine

Sara Bareilles

SARA BAREILLES

“I meditate every morning for at least 15 or 20 minutes. I first got into it after reading When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron. A dear friend gave it to me while I was going through a really bad breakup, and it taught me about sitting with what is uncomfortable. With meditation I find everything about my life improves: my health, my sleep, my habits, my emotional state and my energy. I have struggled with body image issues my whole life. I’ll turn 42 in December, and I’m trying to embrace that my body doesn’t do what it used to. Ultimately, whether one pair of jeans fits or not, I can still enjoy the world and the people I love.” People Magazine

Keke Palmer

KEKE PALMER

“I got tired of trying to be who everybody wanted me to be. There’s always going to be something that people hate me for, whether it’s wanting me to not be black, or a woman, or tall, or short, or skinny, or thick. Other people might love me for it, but I don’t want to constantly change who I am for outside validation. That just sounds like hell. I was constantly hiding myself and felt shame about having acne. So instead of getting to the bottom of my acne and trying to understand it. I was covering it up. trying to be perfect. But you’re never going to get to the nitty-gritty of something when you do a lot of covering up. I feel more beautiful when I;m being kind and of service to others. I’m happy to be alone just vibing with myself. The only person you’ll always have is you, so you really have to be kind to that person. During a recent Peloton class, I went so hard that by the end I was hugging myself like, ‘Girl, you’re amazing.’ I don’t run from my past, and I’m not ashamed that I came from poverty. I want other people to know they’re beautiful not in spite of, but because of, where they come from. It’s not about changing who you are to step through the doors; it’s about being who you are when you get there.” InSTYLE

Meghan Trainor

MEGHAN TRAINOR

“My big thing that I’m working on in life right now is treating myself and being good to myself because it’s a very hard thing to do. Including taking care of my health and even how I talk about myself. My husband will catch me being like, ‘I’m huge today’ or ‘I feel so ugly,’ and he’ll be like, ‘Hey, tell yourself you’re pretty. You’re beautiful, remind yourself.” People Magazine