Late night talk show hosts and indeed a host of other satirists make them the object of continual jokes. Whatever you think of whether such jibes are in good taste or not, it's clear that many celebrities, particularly female celebrities, engage in dieting practices fueled by the very sort of driven personality which likewise enables them to achievement greatness in their craft.
This understandable, if unfortunate, fact of life, though, is all too often absurdly demonized by certain people who want to lay blame at the feet of the mass media and its unholy influence on people's lives. In addition to the platitudes about showbiz glitz, the other supposed villain of the piece is the alleged puerile consumerism of the unwashed public who consume those media images. These patronizing assessments though cloud over more than they reveal; everything in the lives of successful film actors, singers, or other media celebrities is subjected to the drive and ambition which allows them to achieve their professional success.
Can it really be surprising then to discover that turning those personality traits to a determination to control their weight would unleash the same kind of obsessive focus? Christina Ricci, in her irreverent way, illustrated this hard driven personality feature of celebrity eating disorders when she remarked to the Guardian newspaper, in 2004, on how her own eating disorder experience began with an odd introspection while watching trash television. "At the time that I was starting to diet and stuff, I saw this TV movie, and I thought, 'Ooh - anorexia. I could probably do that.'"
Others, such as Ginger Spice, Geri Halliwell, acknowledge that the source of eating disorders is often in dealing with the highs and lows and pressures of daily life. Being a celebrity may or may not increase the pressure, but it doesn't dictate the particular coping strategy adopted.
This media and celebrity bashing silliness became painfully apparent in the backlash against the ironic tweet of the always engaging Lady Gaga, from 2012. Typical of the victimizing machine of the self-appointed morals police, Lady Gaga was attacked for publicly acknowledging that she was resisting the temptation to eat a cheese burger. Really, you can't make this up. Young girls, it would seem, are just trembling bowls of pliable jelly, ever at risk of succumbing to the corrupting influence of celebrity self-deprivation. Even Lady Gaga, it would seem, as irony would have it, despite already having come out and publicly urged her young fans to work on developing better, healthier body image, had to be persecuted. She couldn't acknowledge resisting this cheese burger craving without the self-appointed nannies making a federal case out it. (And, anyway, how the heck is a cheese burger a healthy meal choice? Is that really what they want their daughter's eating?)
If Lady Gaga, who had already bowed and scraped in front of the these morals police cannot joke about her own freely chosen adult dietary choices without being persecuted, what in the heck is really going on? Why does there seem to be such an effort to deny celebrities like Lady Gaga the freedom to take responsibility for their adult choices. Why must they be treated like victims? What is the agenda at work here? Could it be that the unremitting victimization of the celebrity has a residual benefit in making so much easier the victimization of their fans? Does this victimization though actually help the fans of celebrities with eating disorders?
The lesson in all of this, naturally, is not that celebrities are uniquely confronted with the trials of eating disorders. It is true though that such disorders are a product of the motivation and will power of the person making the food choices. It would be silly and a straw man to pretend that the view contrary to the busy body victimization crusade denied the role of environmental conditions in creating very real pressures. That though in no way changes the reality that in the end the bulimic or anorectic are making their choices. To claim anything else is to resort to two-bit mysticism.
Those who decry such a statement as a shameful "blaming of the victim" need to look more closely at the implications of their own pervasive victimization strategy. In any event, if the celebrities with eating disorders really were the victims of Hollywood and the mass media,, the only cure would be to permanently leave showbiz. The great number of celebrities, who beat their disorders, without retiring from the business, illustrates an important point. The cause of the eating disorder lies in the celebrity, but equally as important so too does the solution. If the busy bodies were more concerned with personal empowerment and responsibility than vilification of the media and victimization of its supposed casualties, they would recognize this as good news. Everyone who suffers eating disorders, whatever the stresses of their personal life, have a reservoir of strength upon which to draw. The very determination and discipline that you so strictly harness to enforce your unhealthy dietary regime is likewise always there in you, a reservoir of strength, to draw upon, to change your life. It only takes your willingness to access it.
Is that not encouraging, exciting, even exhilarating? Stop letting others cast you as the victim of your life. It's your life; you're the star and the writer. How you live your life is up to you. Reject simplistic excuses about mass media pressures and social expectations. You have the power to take responsibility for your life. Be the celebrity star of your own story.
This understandable, if unfortunate, fact of life, though, is all too often absurdly demonized by certain people who want to lay blame at the feet of the mass media and its unholy influence on people's lives. In addition to the platitudes about showbiz glitz, the other supposed villain of the piece is the alleged puerile consumerism of the unwashed public who consume those media images. These patronizing assessments though cloud over more than they reveal; everything in the lives of successful film actors, singers, or other media celebrities is subjected to the drive and ambition which allows them to achieve their professional success.
Can it really be surprising then to discover that turning those personality traits to a determination to control their weight would unleash the same kind of obsessive focus? Christina Ricci, in her irreverent way, illustrated this hard driven personality feature of celebrity eating disorders when she remarked to the Guardian newspaper, in 2004, on how her own eating disorder experience began with an odd introspection while watching trash television. "At the time that I was starting to diet and stuff, I saw this TV movie, and I thought, 'Ooh - anorexia. I could probably do that.'"
Others, such as Ginger Spice, Geri Halliwell, acknowledge that the source of eating disorders is often in dealing with the highs and lows and pressures of daily life. Being a celebrity may or may not increase the pressure, but it doesn't dictate the particular coping strategy adopted.
This media and celebrity bashing silliness became painfully apparent in the backlash against the ironic tweet of the always engaging Lady Gaga, from 2012. Typical of the victimizing machine of the self-appointed morals police, Lady Gaga was attacked for publicly acknowledging that she was resisting the temptation to eat a cheese burger. Really, you can't make this up. Young girls, it would seem, are just trembling bowls of pliable jelly, ever at risk of succumbing to the corrupting influence of celebrity self-deprivation. Even Lady Gaga, it would seem, as irony would have it, despite already having come out and publicly urged her young fans to work on developing better, healthier body image, had to be persecuted. She couldn't acknowledge resisting this cheese burger craving without the self-appointed nannies making a federal case out it. (And, anyway, how the heck is a cheese burger a healthy meal choice? Is that really what they want their daughter's eating?)
If Lady Gaga, who had already bowed and scraped in front of the these morals police cannot joke about her own freely chosen adult dietary choices without being persecuted, what in the heck is really going on? Why does there seem to be such an effort to deny celebrities like Lady Gaga the freedom to take responsibility for their adult choices. Why must they be treated like victims? What is the agenda at work here? Could it be that the unremitting victimization of the celebrity has a residual benefit in making so much easier the victimization of their fans? Does this victimization though actually help the fans of celebrities with eating disorders?
The lesson in all of this, naturally, is not that celebrities are uniquely confronted with the trials of eating disorders. It is true though that such disorders are a product of the motivation and will power of the person making the food choices. It would be silly and a straw man to pretend that the view contrary to the busy body victimization crusade denied the role of environmental conditions in creating very real pressures. That though in no way changes the reality that in the end the bulimic or anorectic are making their choices. To claim anything else is to resort to two-bit mysticism.
Those who decry such a statement as a shameful "blaming of the victim" need to look more closely at the implications of their own pervasive victimization strategy. In any event, if the celebrities with eating disorders really were the victims of Hollywood and the mass media,, the only cure would be to permanently leave showbiz. The great number of celebrities, who beat their disorders, without retiring from the business, illustrates an important point. The cause of the eating disorder lies in the celebrity, but equally as important so too does the solution. If the busy bodies were more concerned with personal empowerment and responsibility than vilification of the media and victimization of its supposed casualties, they would recognize this as good news. Everyone who suffers eating disorders, whatever the stresses of their personal life, have a reservoir of strength upon which to draw. The very determination and discipline that you so strictly harness to enforce your unhealthy dietary regime is likewise always there in you, a reservoir of strength, to draw upon, to change your life. It only takes your willingness to access it.
Is that not encouraging, exciting, even exhilarating? Stop letting others cast you as the victim of your life. It's your life; you're the star and the writer. How you live your life is up to you. Reject simplistic excuses about mass media pressures and social expectations. You have the power to take responsibility for your life. Be the celebrity star of your own story.
About the Author:
Check out Mickey Jhonny's other great work at the Celebrities with Eating Disorders blog.
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