Thanks to my colleague Rebecca for passing this one along.
The Guardian reports today that Kate Winslet was awarded £25,000 in libel damages after a British newspaper columnist claimed the actress lied about the fact that she doesn’t follow a strict exercise or diet regime.
The columnist in question – the controversial Liz Jones – wrote:
“There is no way Kate despite her protestations … has not worked supremely, vomit-inducingly hard to get the figure she has today.
I can see the fact she has ‘gone for the burn’ etched on her woefully drawn features. She might say it is down to 20 minutes of gentle Pilates a day but, trust me, it ain’t. I’ve done that amount of Pilates for years and I do not have anything approaching Ms Winslet’s enviable muscle tone.”
Yes, Winslet’s body – albeit not the stick figure frame that most Hollywood actresses sport – is enviable, but if the lady says she doesn’t exercise, she doesn’t exercise. Am I jealous? A little. (It sounds like Liz might be, too.) But I also love Winslet for the fact that she’s so outspoken about body acceptance. In a statement released after today’s verdict, she says:
“I strongly believe that women should be encouraged to accept themselves as they are, so to suggest that I was lying was an unacceptable accusation of hypocrisy.”
I guarantee you those are words you’ll never hear from, say, Victoria Beckham.
Apr
29
At 5 feet 11 and 108 pounds, 19-year-old Stephanie Naumoska, the painfully thin Australian beauty-pageant contestant, says that she lives a “healthy” life — that she has “never been anorexic or bulimic” and has “never been malnourished or underfed.” I highly doubt that is true.
But I have to agree (for once) with The View co-host Elisabeth Hasselback who said the other day on her show that we must stop attacking women like Naumoska with taunts and insults.
Too many people reacted to Naumoska’s appearance in the media by saying, in effect, that she should “eat a cookie!” As if it’s that easy.
The problem of body-image distortion, the sickness of eating disorders — these must be addressed without assaulting the victims.
Apr
29
I am loving the Girl Guides of Canada’s new Love Yourself Challenge badge, which the century-old (yet progressive!) organization will launch on May 11.
Developed with the help of the National Eating Disorder Information Centre, the badge features three figures of various sizes and shapes. Girls can earn one through a variety of tasks, for example by crafting a thing called an Awesome Alien.
“They create a funky alien that may have three eye balls or two right hands,” says a Guides spokesperson. “It’s about celebrating differences.”
