Oh, to be a female celebrity. Equipped with a personal trainer, a stylist, and hair and makeup artists, you’re guaranteed to look and feel good at all times, right? Not so fast. Consider the following six women, who have defended themselves boldly against scathing criticism from the media and their fans about their weight by claiming to love their curves, only to turn right around and whittle down their figures in a matter of months. Call in the PR damage-control experts—these stars need a little media training in how to avoid losing their healthy self-image along with their extra padding.
Jennifer Love HewittHewitt is no stranger to media condemnation of her body. In late 2007, while sporting a bikini in Hawaii, she fell prey to paparazzi cameras that captured less-than-flattering shots of her recent weight gain and cellulite on her backside. Initially, Hewitt fired back with a positive message on her blog: “To set the record straight, I’m not upset for me, but for all of the girls out there that are struggling with their body image … [L]ike all women out there should, I love my body. To all girls with butts, boobs, hips, and a waist, put on a bikini—put it on and stay strong.” But she didn’t practice what she preached—eight months later, a significantly slimmer Hewitt appeared on the cover of Us magazine wearing a sexy red dress and accompanied by a headline that read: “18 Lbs in Ten Weeks.” In the article, Hewitt’s trainer explained that the actress “wanted to start moving around because she thought it would make her feel better.” Is that your version of “staying strong,” Love?
Jennifer HudsonIn January 2008, Hudson extolled the virtues of full-figured females: “Curves are good. I have the height of a model, the breasts that people pay for, and lips that everybody wants, so why should I change?” She added, “I don’t want to be too thin; it’s OK not to work out once in a while if you want to maintain a certain weight.” Cut to March 2011, when Hudson sang an entirely different tune after losing a whopping eighty pounds, thanks largely to Weight Watchers, for which she is now a spokesperson: when Jay Leno asked Hudson what her fiancé thought about her slim-down, she crowed, “I’m a walking billboard now, honey!” For what, J. Hud—hypocrisy?
Kim and Khloé Kardashian“I never knew to embrace curves,” Kim told Us magazine in May 2010 as she and her sister Khloé unveiled their fashion line for Bebe. “I looked at my aunt and cousins and saw these Armenian women with big butts and boobs, and I didn’t really realize how attractive it actually was then. [But] your perspective grows.” Khloé chimed in, “In my head, I did not think I was ever fat … Because of my family base, I always accepted my natural shape … I appreciate it now and I want to help other people.” Yet, in a new take on the idea that hindsight is twenty-twenty, both of these up-with-voluptuous-women comments came on the heels of dramatic weight loss for the Kardashian sisters: fifteen pounds for Kim, thirty for Khloé. At that same event, Khloé even pushed a weight-loss product she was paid to endorse, called Extreme Burn Quick Trim. Mixed message, anyone?