Stars Who Have Been Fat Shamed
Worried about what people might think of your weight? Try being a celebrity. In today's snarky world of anonymous online commenting, it seems like anyone in Hollywood who is half a size above "stick figure" is immediately called fat or bloated or, in the case of Melissa McCarthy, a "female hippo." We've pulled together some of the most outrageous attacks on celebrities' weights—and the inspiring responses they received from the stars themselves. Check them out below.
Ashley Graham
You'd think that landing the cover of the Sports Illustrated annual swimsuit issue would be a model's most satisfying and validating moment, but that wasn't quite the case for plus-size model Ashley Graham, who graced the cover of the 2016 edition. That's because former modeling legend Cheryl Tiegs ripped into Graham's figure, telling E! News, "I don't like that we're talking about full-figured women because it's glamorizing them because your waist should be smaller than 35 [inches]." Tiegs justified her remarks with: "That's what Dr. Oz said, and I'm sticking to it."
Thanks but no thanks, Cheryl. Graham looks amazing; you just look sad.
Tyra Banks
In 2007, the internet and the tabloids tore supermodel Tyra Banks apart after untouched photos of her vacationing in a one-piece bathing suit made the rounds. Banks was so enraged by her critics, she personally addressed them during a tearful segment on her nationally syndicated talk show. "To all of you who have something nasty to say to me... Kiss my fat ass!"
Game, set, match: Tyra.
Chrissy Teigen
Another supermodel who lashed out after being on the receiving end of fat-shaming: Chrissy Teigen. In 2014, the gorgeous wife of John Legend called out her fans on Instagram after they accused her of gaining weight. "In what other real life situation would you walk up to someone and tell them they're fat or gained weight?" she asked (via E! News). "Seriously, you are POS."
Wait. Remind us why Teigen isn't President of the United States?
Melissa McCarthy
Rex Reed, film critic for theThe New York Observer, shocked audiences when he referred to Melissa McCarthy as "tractor-sized" and a "female hippo" in his horrifying review of the 2013 comedy Identity Theft. Months later, the actress addressed Reed's comments while speaking to The New York Times. "I felt really bad for someone who is swimming in so much hate," she said. "I just thought, that's someone who's in a really bad spot, and I am in such a happy spot. I laugh my head off every day with my husband and my kids who are mooning me and singing me songs."
Kate Winslet
Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet has battled criticism about her weight and figure since she started acting as a teenager in the '90s. As a mother of three, the actress says she "feels a sense of responsibility" to help women feel better about their bodies. "Take [having my third baby], for instance," she told Harper's Bazaar in February 2015. "Have I actively been on a diet to lose my baby weight? No, I haven't. I genuinely bloody haven't. I so didn't want to be one of those, 'Oh, wow, she's back in shape after 12 weeks' women. When I read things like that I just think, 'Oh, for f***'s sake, that's actually impossible."
Insert applause here.
Sam Smith
It's not just women who are subjected to fat-shaming in Hollywood. Grammy-winner Sam Smith has been hit with numerous jabs about his weight, including one from shock jock Howard Stern, of all people. "You know what I like about the guy? He's an ugly motherf*****," Stern said on his SiriusXM radio show in January 2015 (via Us Weekly). "He's fat. Is he gay? He looks gay to me, not that anybody looks gay, but he does seem effeminate." After hearing Stern's comments, Smith ultimately took the high road, tweeting (via Salon), "Can't believe what I've just read. Ignore."
Gabourey Sidibe
Sometimes, people can be so horrible that the only way to get past it is to simply laugh it off. That's exactly what Oscar-nominee Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) did after the Internet ripped her apart during the 2014 Golden Globe Awards. "To people making mean comments about my GG pics, I mos def cried about it on that private jet on my way to my dream job last night," Sidibe sarcastically tweeted. Awesome.
Jessica Simpson
Jessica Simpson was harshly criticized for her fluctuating weight while she was pregnant with her second child, daughter Maxwell, in 2011. In fact, the tabloids became so obsessed, Simpson eventually signed a lucrative deal with Weight Watchers.
Looking back on the intense media scrutiny, Simpson can't help but shake it all off. "I'd been scrutinized about my weight before I got pregnant, so I refused to let anyone steal the joy of my babies," Simpson told InStyle in January 2015. "My husband and I were looking at old pictures recently, and I asked him, 'Babe, why didn't you tell me to put the brownie down?' He said, 'You looked great.' He's always loved every curve on my body. And we've always had a healthy sex life." Well, in that case...
Kelly Clarkson
She's won countless Grammys, but that hasn't stopped Kelly Clarkson from being criticized about her weight. In March 2015, British TV personality Katie Hopkins attacked the American Idol winner on Twitter, writing, "What happened to Kelly Clarkson? Did she eat all of her backing singers? Happily I have wide-screen."
To her credit, Clarkson has taken each and every criticism in stride. "You're just who you are. We are who we are. Whatever size, and it doesn't mean that we're gonna be that forever," she told Ellen DeGeneres (via People) in April 2015.
Candice Bergen
Five-time Emmy-winning actress Candice Bergen proudly embraced her 30-pound weight gain in her 2015 memoir, A Fine Romance, effectively silencing her critics once and for all. "Let me just come right out and say it: I am fat [...] I live to eat. None of this 'eat to live' stuff for me," she wrote (via Us Weekly). "I am a champion eater. No carb is safe—no fat, either."
Finally, a Hollywood actress who gets us, too.
Adele
Adele has been called fat by everyone from fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld to the late comedy icon Joan Rivers—not that it's ever mattered to the Grammy-winning songstress. "I've never wanted to look like models on the cover of magazines," she told People (via Marie Claire U.K.) "I represent the majority of women and I'm very proud of that." She added, "'I'd lose weight if I was an actress and had to play a role where you're supposed to be 40 pounds lighter, but weight has nothing to do with my career. Even when I was signing (a contract), most of the industry knew if anyone ever dared say (lose weight) to me, they wouldn't be working with me."
Lagerfeld apologized for calling Adele "a little roundish," but that didn't stop him from putting his foot in his mouth again the following year.
Romola Garai
Although British actress Romola Garai has said she is a "very normal size 10," she's also the first to admit that won't cut it in Hollywood. "That's not acceptable," she told Radio Times in 2012. "Everyone's aware of it... There's no way I could ring up a company that was lending me a red-carpet dress and say, 'Do you have it in a 10?' Because all the press samples are an 8—I would say a 'small 8.' If you want the profile, you have to lose the weight."
Raven-Symoné
Talk about redefining the word "ugh." During a panel discussion on The View in July 2015, co-host Raven-Symoné confessed she was fat shamed as early as age 7 on the set of The Cosby Show. "I remember not being able to have the bagel or anything at [craft services]—we call it crafty—where it's just a table of food ready for you to eat whenever you want," she said (via E! News). "And I remember people were like, 'You can't eat that. You're getting fat. I'm like, 'I'm 7! I'm hungry!'"
Chloe Grace Moretz
In August 2017, actress Chloe Grace Moretz opened up to Variety about a time she was fat-shamed by a male co-star. Without naming names, Moretz said the incident occurred when she 15 years old; the male co-star in question was in his 20s. "This guy that was my love interest was like, 'I'd never date you in real life,' and I was like, 'What?' And he was like, 'Yeah, you're too big for me'—as in my size," she told the Hollywood trade. "It was one of the only actors that ever made me cry on set."
Variety goes on to write that Moretz "collapsed into tears" when she left the set. "It just makes you realize that there are some really bad people out there, and for some reason, he felt the need to say that to me."
Amy Schumer
In December 2016, popular comedian Amy Schumer's weight was called into question after she landed the lead role in a live-action movie about the beloved Mattel Barbie doll. Never one to take a ridiculous diss sitting down, Schumer responded to her trolls with an on-point post on Instagram: "Is it fat shaming if you know you're not fat and have zero shame in your game? I don't think so. I am strong and proud of how I live my life and say what I mean and fight for what I believe in and I have a blast doing it with the people I love."
She continued, "When I look in the mirror I know who I am. I'm a great friend, sister, daughter and girlfriend. I'm a badass comic headlining arenas all over the world and making tv and movies and writing books where I lay it all out there and I'm fearless like you can be."
Unfortunately, the fat shaming against Schumer, who eventually dropped out of the project and was replaced by Anne Hathaway, did not stop. In April 2017, she once again used her Instagram to silence a swimsuit designer who claimed Schumer "looked like a pig."
Rihanna
Pop icon Rihanna can dominate the charts for months with a single song. She can also shut down haters with a single meme.
Those who were criticizing Riri's weight in April 2017 learned this the hard way when the "Umbrella" singer took to Instagram to post arguably the most on-point meme ever shared. The meme featured side-by-side shots of the rapper Gucci Mane: one from 2007 when he wasn't exactly, you know, in tip-top shape; and one from 2017 when he, you know, was. "If you can't handle me at my 2007 Gucci Mane," the meme read (via CNN), "You don't deserve me at my 2017 Gucci Mane."
Preach!
Jennifer Lawrence
Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence's figure was called out by numerous reviews of The Hunger Games in 2012, including an uncharacteristically harsh comment from The New York Times. "A few years ago Ms. Lawrence might have looked hungry enough to play Katniss," critic Manohla Dargis wrote at the time. "But now, at 21, her seductive, womanly figure makes a bad fit for a dystopian fantasy about a people starved into submission." Later that year, Lawrence addressed the impossible standards set for women by Hollywood, telling Elle magazine, "In Hollywood, I'm obese. I'm considered a fat actress."
Um, if you're obese, then what the heck are we?!