Hollywood likes numbers
Since this is my challenging week (plus) of no longer weighing myself, imagine my surprise when I see this article on People.com:
Melissa Joan Hart Reveals Her Bikini Body
Melissa (I still think of her as Clarissa), according to the article, has lost 42 lbs, down from 155 to 113. Now to me that seemed awfully low, but she is 5’2″ with a small frame (or so I tell myself). The point is that articles like this place a lot of emphasis on the numbers. When we see SHOCKING stories of celebrities’ weight gains or losses, its almost always matched with how much. I suppose in some ways, its Hollywood’s and the magazines’ need for those precise numbers to draw people into their stories, but also perhaps its for us because lots of us here in America are focused on numbers.
I would’ve enjoyed this article more if it had simple kept the title (which was fine) and mentioned in the article that she has lost weight (and reached her goal) from healthy eating and exercise, and NOT mention how many pounds or how long it took (although I do think her 14-month program is very realistic). I believe this puts pressure on a lot of people who will compare themselves and feel they don’t match up or they aren’t doing as well as the person in the article. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t do that once in a while.
That being said, Melissa is a breath of fresh air after seeing so many of these “get thin quick after having a baby…” celebrity stories.
But, at the end of the day, how a person feels about him or herself should come from within and hopefully the future generations will grow up being taught to love their bodies for its uniqueness and not compare it to others because we were all made differently.
What do you guys think? Should a person’s weight (in numbers) be kept private?
Posted on May 27, 2009, in websites, Weight and tagged articles, Melissa Joan Hart, People. Bookmark the permalink. 8 Comments.
Um, I have mixed feeling on this. When I read an article like this or see something weight-related, I am totally curious as to what the actual numbers are! But I also have to remember 1)how tall the person is, and 2)if the # is accurate (because you KNOW they could probably say anything they want!). But on the other hand, I am trying really hard not to compare myself to others so knowing the #s isn’t helping me in that regard. I do think it’s intersting, though!
Erica, I’m totally with you. Its easy for me to say I wish the numbers weren’t there but I know in the back of my mind I’d be wondering. I need to learn how to say “good for her” and move on
I totally fixate on numbers which is bad! I also agree that its easy to lie! I always tell people I’m 1 lb less than I am…like that makes a difference!
The thing that bothers me about magazines printing numbers is they could be completely off! A lot of the times they are just guessing what people weigh and it makes me wonder if they take into account how muscular these people are. Muscle weighs more than fat so just because someone is really slim in a picture, they could weigh more than what people are guessing because they’re built. Then when they print these low numbers their readers may see that so and so is only XXX lbs. and they in turn try to obtain that by crash dieting. Ehhh, I hope that made sense
I also saw the article and the first thing I felt was a tad bit of jealousy and thought “why can’t I be that tiny”…how sick is that? (I can’t believe I admitted that) THEN I saw the number 113 and thought that was a bit extreme. I agree that the number should have perhaps been left out of the article but that’s hollywood and that’s what sells.
Sidenote, I was such a huge fan of “Clarissa Explains it All” lol….I copied her clothes allllll the time
It’s funny because “Hollywood” is so into numbers, even when they don’t know them! You know, the random “she gained 15 pounds!” when I’m sure the starlet didn’t actually disclose any numbers.
Right! Like they walked up to a celebrity and said “tell us exactly the number of pounds you gained” so I’m sure a lot of it is made up. Loving your all’s comments!
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