Thursday, August 14, 2008

Love thyself - but only so much, apparently ...

Last fall Jennifer Love Hewitt was aghast at some of the hurtful things that were written about her, by fans and reporters alike, after paparazzi pics of the Ghost Whisperer star frolicking on the beach in a tiny bikini - and a more pounds than expected - hit the Internet. She struck back, decrying the emphasis on thinness and telling woman and girls everywhere to be proud of their curves; People magazine reported on the dust-up in a cover story called "Don't Call Me Fat". Yet today comes another magazine cover featuring Hewitt - this one for Us magazine that declares how she lost 18 pounds in just 10 weeks, complete with photos of her smaller physique, the curves she claimed to be proud of - and that many a guy has ogled for years - greatly diminished. What's more, she didn't drop the pounds, she says, because of the scrutiny over the beach candids.

Beyond my personal opinion that Hewitt didn't need to lose any weight - toning, maybe, but not anything radical. Indeed, to be blunt, I celebrated the fact that the bikini shots were easily the most revealing photos we had ever seen of her - I have to wonder what kind of message her dramatic weight loss sends to the young girls she claimed to be sticking up for last year. What are they to make of this mixed message from a star who wasn't overweight, an who said she was proud of her curvy body, but who felt compelled, despite what she says, to pare herself down less than a year later? Plus, now Hewitt seems too thin, having lost the oomph that made her one of the more enduring sex symbols of recent years.

Last year Hewitt wrote on her blog that being a size zero "doesn't make you beautiful". Now that she's much closer to that level, I have to agree with her. All I see when I look at her is ... hypocrisy.

1 comment:

Beth said...

Here, here. This "you're not beautiful unless you look like a Tootsie Pop" mentality really needs to change.