Doing ballet training for the much-discussed upcoming film Black Swan was "the craziest thing I've ever done in my life," Mila Kunis said.
When the film wrapped, she told reporters she ... more
Doing ballet training for the much-discussed upcoming film Black Swan was "the craziest thing I've ever done in my life," Mila Kunis said.
When the film wrapped, she told reporters she wanted to stop living like a ballerina and eat.
"I'm so hungry all the time. I just want to eat and not work out and not do anything. I plan on doing nothing...I plan to be a couch potato for about a month." [via FitCeleb.com] less
We're so used to hearing celebrities blame/credit their sub-size-zeroness on super-fast metabolism or similar that it's startling to read something that sounds a lot more true -- that they are painfully, chronically hungry in an effort to meet the insurmountable standard for a famous woman's body size.
Kathy Griffin, who paraded on stage in a camouflage bikini for active-duty soldiers for the "VH1 Divas Salute the Troops" concert over the weekend, once jokingly told Giuliana Rancic her personal combo for staying thin: "It's frustration and starvation. I'm cranky all the time and I'm hungry all the time."
Like most of what Griffin says, it is likely part of her never-ceasing comedy set. But the truth behind it -- yep, whittling down your body to concave abs and protruding ribs will likely entail some pretty hardcore calorie reduction and horrible hunger pangs -- is not so funny. Think I'm taking this too seriously? Consider that people don't starve to just lower weights, they also starve to death.
It seems refreshing for celebrities, particularly the ones who are lauded for their very thin figures, to fess up about what's involved in looking they way they do. It feels important to say that out loud, even when it is ugly and unhealthy and uncomfortable, so that we can start shattering those impossible ideals of thinness.
But there's a danger in this as well. There's the possibility of some woman reading that and thinking that the formula for being Hollywood-skinny is to simply stop eating, and most of all, we don't want that.
There's also the concern that, even as big-name celebrities say that they must starve to be the size they are, it will just continue to be accepted, not only by the inner circle of people in the industry who all know it to be true already but also by wider and wider audiences. Let's not forget how easily these comments are laughed at or brushed off -- as illustrated by Giuliana Rancic, who fought back hard against her own doctor's advice to gain five pounds in order to boost her chances of maintaining a healthy pregnancy, responded to Griffin, saying, "You look good, that's all that matters."
Perhaps even worse, we could all just hear it, accept it, never question it, and continue on judging our own bodies and the bodies of other women on screen who dare to age, have cellulite, or be curvy.
Whether her admission was a punchline or a punch in the (flat but complaining) gut, Kathy Griffin joins a list of other A-listers who have commented on how hungry they are, too.
Tell us what you would say back to these famous women. Not only do we know you can do better than Giuliana Rancic and there's clearly a lot more that needs to be said by real women on the topic of starving to be skinny.
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