As “Wicked: For Good” premiered around the globe, actors and actresses donned stunning outfits and walked the red carpet on opening night. However, it seems the most popular question on everyone’s minds for these actors is “How much body mass are you wearing tonight?”
Ignoring the film’s message of diversity and acceptance, fans have their eyes caught on the waists of Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, and Michelle Yeoh.
Social media has exploded with increasing concerns and critiques on the thinness of their bodies, citing past photoshoots and comparing them with recordings from “Wicked” as evidence for alarm. Now, they’re in the speculation stage, hypothesizing that eating disorders and unethical use of medication are the reason for the weight loss.
Fans are even using their bodies as encouragement for undertaking restrictive eating and dangerous dieting strategies. Parent coach Oona Hanson commented on the safety of watching the movie, explaining, “The ultra-thin images, I think, are very painful and can be triggering to someone who has, let’s say, seen their child become emaciated from an eating disorder.”
These reactions to the actresses’ bodies question the health of the actresses and the consequences of their figures on the public, suggesting that they need to be fixed and shunned in the meantime. Concerned fans seem to be caring and want the best for their idols.
One fan had declared their care for these celebrities in a post. “I would rather someone feel bad about people pointing out their concerning weight loss than them die from an eating disorder!!!”
Now, have the lines between concern and body shaming been blurred long enough?
Celebrities’ bodies have been plastered everywhere: online, billboards, posters, maybe even your phone’s wallpaper. They are constantly being examined and judged, and some people thought it was a good idea to share their opinions about them with others.
Maybe some fans truly have good intentions and do care for the health of these celebrities, willing to do whatever it takes to be heard by them, even body-shaming them.
This dangerous mindset has made experts, such as Dr. Rebecca Pearl, associate professor of clinical and health psychology at the University of Florida, feel compelled to clarify that body shaming is, surprisingly, counterproductive.
Fans driving their concern of an actor’s weight into their head can dig the actor deeper and deeper into a dark hole of anxiety, depression, or begin/continue eating disorders until they’re too far down the hole and can’t escape.
Megan Trainor, singer and songwriter known for her songs about her figure, has been down this hole after taking pictures of her weight loss journey. Feeling proud of herself for her efforts towards better health, she documented her change and shared it with the world, which was a big mistake.
In an interview with Extra, Trainor revealed the soul-cutting criticism from her so-called fans. “I started posting pictures myself recently, just like how I always did, but for some reason, a flame went off, and everyone got mad. Just like, ‘Ew, I don’t recognize you. You’re just a walking nose.’ I cried so much.”
Trainor has since learned to “not give strangers power,” demonstrating her new feelings once more in her new song, “Still Don’t Care.” But she wouldn’t need to if people hadn’t mocked her for her own body.
You also never know if someone’s change in appearance was linked to a disease or disorder that they have no control over. Yet, he was still ridiculed for his drastic change until his last breath. The late actor Chadwick Boseman was sadly a victim of body shaming by tabloids and fans. He fought colon cancer, the cause of his weight loss, but did not disclose the disease till the very end, leading to people speculating drug use instead. It was clear that compassion and kindness were not here for Boseman, just mockery.
These comments on the “Wicked” actresses were never about health but about body image, leaning into the weight stigma that health is defined by their figures. But it is not.
The discussion of health is a private discussion between celebrities and their doctor, not an open discussion with people who pretend to know celebrities better than themselves. People who think they have the right to interfere with their lives this way. It is none of our business (shocking, I know). If they never talk about their weight, why start now?
The only way that I see it appropriate to talk about their bodies is if the celebrity themselves volunteered in order to raise awareness about the issue. But even then, that is an extremely messy gray area.
Take Queen Latifa, for example. She joined Revolt in an interview to share information about treating obesity and its connection to cardiovascular disease. She chose to discuss the trials with her weight in order to save lives, not to be a vulnerable punching bag that one can throw their projections of insecurity onto.
We’ve placed celebrities on such high pedestals that we can’t see them as humans anymore, just toys that we use to entertain ourselves. And now, it seems the “Wicked” actresses are the current playthings. These dolls have been hit with abuse that no one deserves. How about we take a break from playing for once?
