Category: Body Image

Halle Berry

Posted on by Betty Hoeffner

 

HALLE BERRY felt she was ugly

“A magical thing happened when I turned 40 – a light sort of went off, and I felt more self-assured and confident, like I finally had the right to be authentic about who I am, to say what I want to say. I guess that comes with getting older. Now I’m at this point in my life where I’m happy with myself. It’s not because I have a really cute boyfriend or a great career, I just feel good about me. And if any one of those things should dissipate, I’d still be OK. That feels like a really good place to be.

Halle didn’t always feel this way. After she was voted one of the world’s sexiest women she said she still doesn’t see herself as a big star. “To be totally honest, most of the time I think I’m ugly. I see myself without make-up every morning and that’s why I don’t have illusions any more. I certainly don’t feel like a big star.” Journal fur die Frau

“When I was a kid, my mother told me that if you can’t be a good loser, you can’t be a good winner. If you can’t take criticism, then you don’t deserve the praise.”  Razzie Awards

Leonardo Dicaprio

Posted on by Betty Hoeffner

 

 LEONARDO DICAPRIO unpopular? Imagine that!

“I was entirely an unpopular student. I think teenage life is filled with narcissism and giant mood swings that are unnecessary and constantly inflating problems to phenomenally unrealistic proportions.”   GQ

“We all have horrible fears and insecurities that we need to overcome. Mine came from never feeling accepted by any group, never being received. In school I was about a foot shorter than anyone else, always jumping up and getting laughs-a little smart-ass with a big mouth. School was like this wild safari where I could make a name for myself, but it never really worked. They just basically looked at you as the class clown and dismissed you.  I never belonged.  Parade

Ben Stiller

Posted on by Betty Hoeffner

BEN STILLER wants you to treat each other kindly

“I was pretty insecure [around girls] because I had bad skin. Not really bad skin, but I had pimples. It affected my sense of who I was. It’s such a silly thing when you look back, but at the time, it drove me crazy. …..[High School] can be brutal because of the cliques and the way kids treat each other. But stick it out — it gets better. Things that seem like they mean the world at the moment, you’ll look back on and realize weren’t that important. It sounds like an after — school special, but it’s true.

 

Paula Abdul

Posted on by Betty Hoeffner

 

PAULA ABDUL

“I was like any other teenage girl who wanted to be someone I’m not, and that was defined by what boys liked and what images of beauty the media perpetrated. Plus, when I was 7 years old, my ballet teacher said that I didn’t have a dancer’s body. That rang in my head as “I’m not normal; my body is wrong.” It affected me in profound ways. I’m a strong girl, but I’ve always been a believer that when I can’t manage, I surrender. I get myself to a place where someone can help me. I’m prouder of overcoming bulimia than of anything else I’ve done – more than having a number one record or selling out a concert. Celebrate yourself, embrace your struggle, and don’t walk with shame, because nothing is as bad as you probably think it is. When I got through bulimia, I stopped living as a prisoner. Let your body fall into its natural state. Every minute you stay enthralled with a diet or get caught up in how you think you should look, you lose, because you’re not enjoying life.”

Queen Latifah

Posted on by Betty Hoeffner

QUEEN LATIFAH

“It was a very vulnerable time going from being insecure about my body and who I am to becoming comfortable with me. I had to tune out what the hell everybody else had to say about who I was. When I was able to do that, I felt free.”  Parade

“I wish every woman would love themselves and embrace what they were given naturally. I’ve been fortunate to have the career I want without changing what I look like. If [producers] ever demanded I lose so much weight that I’m not even a remnant of who I am, then hell no, I’m not going to do that. Besides, there’d be a lot of girls out there who wouldn’t be inspired had I not been that girl with a little more weight who carried herself with that self-confidence.”  In Style

Uma Thurman

Posted on by Betty Hoeffner

 

UMA THURMAN

“One of the things that struck me at fashion shows is how great these incredibly thin women look in photographs but how in real life it’s too thin. They would be more attractive if they were a little heavier. And I actually don’t think this desire to be rail thin is as pandemic aesthetically as the fashion world presents it to be. I don’t think men prefer women to look like that.”

Kirstie Alley

Posted on by Betty Hoeffner

 

KIRSTIE ALLEY

 “I think that we’re all sort of sick of being judged on how we look no matter if we’re too skinny. It seems you can’t be just right anymore. You’re either too fat or too skinny too old or too young too ethnic or too not, you know. You rarely go wow that girl’s just beautiful.”  Today Show