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Size 0 Or Nothing: 22 Heartbreaking Examples Of Iconic Women Being Labeled ‘Fat’ By ‘00s Media (New Pics)
Picking up a newspaper or magazine from just twenty years ago can be nearly as shocking as taking one from the 1960s. The 60s were longer ago, but it’s clear and obvious, the language, the photos, the products are so clearly old. The 2000s are a whole different story, so similar to our present day, but when you sit down to read what's there, you’ll quickly be hit with a slew of ideas that are downright unacceptable in the present day.
One Twitter thread went viral recently when a netizen pointed out some examples of ‘00s media promoting and brainwashing people into accepting the most unhealthy and unrealistic beauty standards. Other readers joined in, sharing all the other examples they could think of.
More info: Twitter
The ‘00's tabloids and media had horribly unrealistic expectations for women’s bodies
Image credits: CarolineMoss
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Jennifer Lawrence During The Release Of The Hunger Games Films. In 2012, Jennifer Said, "In Hollywood, I’m Obese. I'm Considered A Fat Actress"
RELATED:
#2
Kate Winslet During The Release Of Titanic. James Cameron Famously Used The Nickname "Kate Weighs-A-Lot"
#3
Britney Spears Was Called A "Whale" During Her Performance At The 2007 Vmas
While some might look at these examples and only conclude that things were a bit absurd in the past, the unfortunate truth of beauty standards is that they tend to have long-lasting effects on multiple generations of women. Simply put, there is a direct correlation between the combinations of words and images that these tabloids used and how women and girls feel about themselves right now.
A recent study by Dove found that just 4% of all surveyed women would describe themselves as beautiful. In 2004, pretty close to the time period that most of these tweets are referring to, the number was as low as 2%. This is an abysmally low number, but a direct indicator of just how toxic these standards can be.
#4
Renée Zellweger. A Major Plot Point Of Bridget Jones’s Diary Is How Obscenely "Fat" She Was For Weighing A Whole 136 Lbs And Being A UK Size 14 (Us 6)
ynyrhydref56 1 year ago
And it was a huge talking point in interviews about how much weight she had to gain for the role - so brave!
#5
Drew Barrymore Was The "Chunky One" In The Charlie's Angels Crew
ThatOnePortobelloMushroom 1 year ago (edited)
To prove this is b******t i can't figure out which one Drew Barrymore is. None of them deserve that title Edit: i don't know who she is btw
#6
They Called Alicia Silverstone “Fatgirl”
Holly Stevens 1 year ago
That was a horrible scandal. She put on some weight and they had to refit the costume so someone in the art department made a "fat girl' poster of her that was leaked. All the tabloids reported she was too fat to fit her costume and most of her role was cut out of the movie
The same research also discovered that 72% of women, primarily young girls, stated that they feel “tremendous pressure to be beautiful,” no doubt a result of being shown individuals who can afford absurd diets and personal trainers, all the while being told that this is what a woman has to live up to. It’s not hard to imagine the psychological difficulties that come from constantly feeling like you aren’t good enough.
#7
Jennifer Lopez, The Woman With The “Biggest Butt Ever” According To Every Tabloid!
Marie Dahme 1 year ago
Remember when they called her Jello instead of J.Lo ? Who’s laughing now ?
#8
Beyoncé Was Considered Plus Sized 1999-2005 When She Looked Like This
#9
Jennifer Stone During The Release Of Wizards Of Waverly Place. She Was Typecast As "The Funny, Fat Friend"
The omnipresence of these standards in media have been around long enough to become basically internalized, as 54% of women surveyed globally answered in the affirmative to the statement that “they are their own worst beauty critic.” Despite the plethora of information and knowledge about how the body works and what a natural body looks like, the barrage of certain words and images from the tabloids has irreversibly caused self-esteem issues in a lot of women.
#10
They Said Christina Aguilera's Body Had Been Ruined Cuz Of Her Pregnancy 😭 And She Looked Like This
#11
Gillian Anderson During The Filming Of X-Files. They Even Had Mulder Compliment Her When She’d Lost Some Weight
#12
Martine Mccutcheon During The Release Of Love, Actually. In The Film, Her Character Is Referred To As Having "Thighs The Size Of Tree Trunks"
The nasty truth is that women never really could catch a break when it comes to what society perceived as beautiful. When we see films set in the 19th century or art depicting people at that time, the women tend to wear massive dresses, all while constricted in unbelievably tight whalebone corsets. Researchers studying the corpses, or at this point skeletons, of women from that time period have discovered the detrimental effects of this fashion trend, including spinal misalignment and deformed ribs.
#13
Remember How They Told Us That Geri Was The “Curvy” Spice Girl?
#14
Nicole Richie Being Referred To As The "Fat One" When Photographed With Her On-Screen Best Friend Paris Hilton
Andrea Squires 1 year ago
She had an eating disorder because of this. it was so gross and disgusting to treat her that way
#15
The Public Treated Lily Allen Like She Was A Gargantuan Sea Monster. She Literally Looks Like An Average Person’s Body
Before the Victorians were making women suffocate just to attend a social event, the Chinese were binding girls' feet to get a specific look and shape. The process, which would take agonizing, long years, would yield feet that did fit some particular beauty standards, although it’s unlikely that any modern viewer would find anything appealing in the process. It’s shocking that girls went through literal years of pain for what amounted to a fashion trend.
#16
Kelly Clarkson Has Been Heavily Fatshamed In 2002
Story of Kelly Clarkson's weight loss.
Agnes Jekyll 1 year ago
I clearly remember Simon Cowell saying she needed to lose weight, on air, on the show, to her face. (I was just thinking of this last night--look who's laughing now, Cowell)
#17
America Ferrera During The Release Of Ugly Betty
Marie Dahme 1 year ago
I loved her in the 2002 film “Real Women Have Curves”. This little gem is so often overlooked. She was amazing in it.
#18
America Ferrera During The Sisterhood Of The Travelling Pants
These foot wrappings are, unfortunately, the perfect example of how ridiculous beauty standards can be at times. There are no evolutionary reasons for this preference, just a combination of powerful cultural forces and the ability of others to dictate to women what they should look like. For those curious, the perfect bound foot would be 10 centimeters or 4 inches. This is not a typo, yes, that small.
Now, humans aren’t the only creatures that do strange things in the name of desirability, for example, the Parotia bird does a long and elaborate dance routine to impress a mate, although how this dance translates to getting food is unclear. Evolutionary selection has also helped breed crabs with oversized claws that only exist to impress mates. However, using these examples for humans is ridiculous for a number of reasons. Firstly, we are considerably more intelligent than a crab and shouldn't be taking social cues from them.
#19
Anne Hathaway During The Release Of The Devil Wears Prada. Andy Has Lines About How She’s Not As Thin As The Other Girls, And Is Considered Fat By Multiple Characters
Edgar Rops 1 year ago
That isn't the best example, since it's deliberate. Everyone notices that she is anything but fat, except by fashion industry standards, which the film was supposed to expose for what it is
#20
When The Papers Said That Cheryl Cole Had Let Herself Go And Was Fat In 2011. She's Tiny
#21
Tyra Banks Being Referred To As Fat When She Was Photographed By Paparazzi At The Beach
Secondly, our “standards” of desirability are genuinely harmful and unhealthy. Remember, most Parotia birds can actually do the dance, as it doesn’t pose a risk to their health. Trying to not be “fat” by tabloid standards has made millions of women miserable and caused countless eating disorders from nonsensical diets.
This is why Twitter threads like this are important, as it’s vital to show the younger generation that just because a flashy magazine publishes something, doesn’t mean it’s real, true or worthwhile. Happiness is not really found in the validation of strangers. And it’s not worth destroying your health and mental state over an arbitrary standard that will shift in a few years anyway. If you want to keep exploring this conversation, Bored Panda has similar articles here, here and here.
#22
Raven-Symoné During The Release Of That's So Raven
Add New Image
What do you think ?
ToGo 1 year ago
I remember that exact photo of Jessica Simpson down to the blonde curls and leopard print waist belt but in my mind she's much, much bigger. I was a scrawny 16/17 yo and thought "I have to make sure I never get that big". I look at the photo now and she looks beautiful. It just goes to show the negative affects the media can have on you - especially as a youngster.
ynyrhydref56 1 year ago
Yep. If you weren't practically skeletal, you were fat. The goal was size 0
Eva Kašu 1 year ago
I was a teenage in this years...gosh I was stupid (and hungry) for 10 long years.
Mariele Scherzinger 1 year ago
Every other TV show that I watch has actresses in it that look like they live on a lettuce leaf per day. And most of these actresses, A-listers or not, starve themselves in order to get hired at all. If that is the standard you judge people by, then anyone who is not underweight is automatically a whale.
Goose of the Ahonkalypse 1 year ago
There's a reason why half the girls in my high school had an eating disorder in the 90's. Thats not hyperbole that's actually how it was. So many girls went to treatment and most girls were calorie concious or eating low fat. The beauty standard was very skinny with no butt. I'm so grateful to those who blazed a trail to make fuller bodies more acceptable and then those who pushed even farther for body acceptance in general. I still had leftover 90's-early 2000's body ideals for myself into my 30's.
CHRISTY SMITH 1 year ago
I like how there isn’t one man in the article, that only women are being made fun of for being a size 6+
Lori T Wisconsin 1 year ago
Women have always been held to a higher standard than men regarding physical appearance. When men age, the lines on their face are called character. When women age, the lines on our face are called wrinkles.
Victoria Pitt 1 year ago (edited)
It's crazy that women with flat stomachs and pant sizes in the single digits would be thought of as fat. I'm 40 so I definitely grew up around all this and always struggled with my body image. I'm a lot more confident now but I still struggle a little, even though I've been working out for over 20 years and I'm really healthy and in shape. Now they do body positivity but way off the deep end showing a model who is an XXXL. So it's tiny XS women or XXXL and that's inclusive? Why can't they just show an average sized Medium (like many in the photos above) for goodness sakes? Why?
Landithy 1 year ago (edited)
More the late 1990s, but I remember thinking I was "chubby" as a teenager. I knew it. My peers knew it. My mum kept telling me I shouldn't wear this or that because I was chubby and had "backne". I looked at my old yearbook photo a few years ago and was shocked to see a perfectly ordinary teenager staring back at me.
Barbara Cochrane 1 year ago
I'm glad I'm old and grew up in a time that wasn't obsessed with criticizing body shapes. Of course I rarely read the movie magazines but I did read the newspapers. I never remember any headlines that someone was too fat, thin etc. Just not really news back then.
Leo Domitrix 1 year ago
I am "plus size" to the media, yet by medical standards, am in great shape (weight, muscle, etc.) per my own GP. Per my media-skewed brain? I am fat. Per my late dad? Fat. Fat fat fat. We're meant to be addict-scrawny *and* healthy (you can't do it, btw, I know this as a medical doctor), but if you're not a certain shape (male or female)? You get shamed. It's insane. That I escaped anorexia baffles me and my shrink alike. I am over 50, I weight about 70kg (154 lbs for the non-metric) and 1.78m tall (70 inches for the non-metric). I can lift fifty pounds and carry it up stairs. Yet I am "fat". Sidenote: Still wear same jeans size I had 20 years ago by measurements, but they changed the numbers on the sizing. ARGH. I went from an 8 to a 14 to a 10 without changing body size!
Diphylleia Grayi 1 year ago
we live and grow up in a really toxic environment for every human being
Squirrelly Panda 1 year ago
Can you imagine what they'd say about Marilyn Monroe? Or many of the 1950's pin-up girls? Sheesh!
Valek Fermiga 1 year ago
Hollywood and the media have a LOT to answer for when it comes to " weight " issues, teenagers and under read a lot of magazine's, and are influenced by them, and if they're saying size zero is " fat " then young girls will follow that. Media : take some responsibility....
Lisa H 1 year ago
I'm considered "not pretty enough" to be promoted at my second job. At a restaurant. I'm a US size 4 and there's a bunch of guys that have massive crushes in me. Yet, my self esteem is in the toilet. I'm trying to leave that place as soon as possible for WAY more reasons that this. I just found out about that last night, too. I really hate working there and it's only been two months. Too many red flags to count.
Annemarie Mattheyse 1 year ago
Growing up in the 90s and 00s, I always thought my butt was HUGE and wished it was flatter. I have a butt like J-Lo. I now consider it one of my best assets...
Marley Nachi 1 year ago
so greatful that people are recognising how wrong is is to judge women's body types and making better choices now
DC 1 year ago
I lived at that time. Was already able to read. While I wasn't particularly interested in any of the above, I never read anyone referring to them the way it is told here. Sources? Did that REALLY happen?
Spence Bloom 4 months ago
It’s a crying shame that credence is given to cheap, petty insults. I think whoever said such things should be mentioned and shamed for trash talking, disrespect, and meanness. This compilation of insults is trash.
Leigh Hilderbrandt 4 months ago
It was as bad, if not worse, during the 80s and the early 90s when heroin sheik was all the rage. In numerous TV family shows, the sons ragged on their sisters by calling them fat and/or ugly regularly. Quite a few young actresses developed eating disorders because of it.
Steven Creed 4 months ago
I think people should except people who they are no matter what size, beauty comes in all shapes and sizes, ugliness comes from within not from what's on the outside, you can put a piece of garbage an wrap it in a fancy wrapper an it'll look really nice on the outside but it's garbage on the inside like people that body shame cause their nowhere themselves coming close to looking perfect, for me I've been told im big an ugly an scary looking guy, but the very few say i don't look like what i sound an the person i am, i don't judge people i accept who they are, an the way they look, Marilyn Monroe was beautiful an Liz Taylor an the Gabor sisters, we shouldn't push people to starve themselves to fit what society says what's perfect in their eyes everyone is beautiful in their own way, old saying " Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" everyone stay beautiful on the inside an out.
Victoria Poyner 1 year ago
Love yourself and remember you can just roll on all the skinny little bad mouthed jerks and smother them, having an ample backside comes in handy!
Cydney Golden 1 year ago
Hey, try being a teen aged girl in the 60s. The role model was TWIGGY.
Nikki Sevven 1 year ago
The so-called "ideal" woman changes frequently, from the lush bodies Rubens painted to the boyish figures of 1920s flappers, from the impossible cone boobs of the 1940s to the bottom-heavy Kardashian thing. No single woman can have all those different bodies, therefore the standards are unrealistic and we should all ignore them. Do what's best for your health.
Far Cough Khan 1 year ago
funny its 2023 and i am 58yo now, these photos they all looked super skinny to me now? lmao
Lauren Wilder 1 year ago
Why do we expect artist to suddenly become runway models? Unimaginable expectations are placed on them to be perfect at all times. No one is ever happy. It's a wonder why they fall into depression or get into some type of trouble with an addiction. Then we pin them to the wall about that.
ToGo 1 year ago
I remember that exact photo of Jessica Simpson down to the blonde curls and leopard print waist belt but in my mind she's much, much bigger. I was a scrawny 16/17 yo and thought "I have to make sure I never get that big". I look at the photo now and she looks beautiful. It just goes to show the negative affects the media can have on you - especially as a youngster.
ynyrhydref56 1 year ago
Yep. If you weren't practically skeletal, you were fat. The goal was size 0
Eva Kašu 1 year ago
I was a teenage in this years...gosh I was stupid (and hungry) for 10 long years.
Mariele Scherzinger 1 year ago
Every other TV show that I watch has actresses in it that look like they live on a lettuce leaf per day. And most of these actresses, A-listers or not, starve themselves in order to get hired at all. If that is the standard you judge people by, then anyone who is not underweight is automatically a whale.
Goose of the Ahonkalypse 1 year ago
There's a reason why half the girls in my high school had an eating disorder in the 90's. Thats not hyperbole that's actually how it was. So many girls went to treatment and most girls were calorie concious or eating low fat. The beauty standard was very skinny with no butt. I'm so grateful to those who blazed a trail to make fuller bodies more acceptable and then those who pushed even farther for body acceptance in general. I still had leftover 90's-early 2000's body ideals for myself into my 30's.
CHRISTY SMITH 1 year ago
I like how there isn’t one man in the article, that only women are being made fun of for being a size 6+
Lori T Wisconsin 1 year ago
Women have always been held to a higher standard than men regarding physical appearance. When men age, the lines on their face are called character. When women age, the lines on our face are called wrinkles.
Victoria Pitt 1 year ago (edited)
It's crazy that women with flat stomachs and pant sizes in the single digits would be thought of as fat. I'm 40 so I definitely grew up around all this and always struggled with my body image. I'm a lot more confident now but I still struggle a little, even though I've been working out for over 20 years and I'm really healthy and in shape. Now they do body positivity but way off the deep end showing a model who is an XXXL. So it's tiny XS women or XXXL and that's inclusive? Why can't they just show an average sized Medium (like many in the photos above) for goodness sakes? Why?
Landithy 1 year ago (edited)
More the late 1990s, but I remember thinking I was "chubby" as a teenager. I knew it. My peers knew it. My mum kept telling me I shouldn't wear this or that because I was chubby and had "backne". I looked at my old yearbook photo a few years ago and was shocked to see a perfectly ordinary teenager staring back at me.
Barbara Cochrane 1 year ago
I'm glad I'm old and grew up in a time that wasn't obsessed with criticizing body shapes. Of course I rarely read the movie magazines but I did read the newspapers. I never remember any headlines that someone was too fat, thin etc. Just not really news back then.
Leo Domitrix 1 year ago
I am "plus size" to the media, yet by medical standards, am in great shape (weight, muscle, etc.) per my own GP. Per my media-skewed brain? I am fat. Per my late dad? Fat. Fat fat fat. We're meant to be addict-scrawny *and* healthy (you can't do it, btw, I know this as a medical doctor), but if you're not a certain shape (male or female)? You get shamed. It's insane. That I escaped anorexia baffles me and my shrink alike. I am over 50, I weight about 70kg (154 lbs for the non-metric) and 1.78m tall (70 inches for the non-metric). I can lift fifty pounds and carry it up stairs. Yet I am "fat". Sidenote: Still wear same jeans size I had 20 years ago by measurements, but they changed the numbers on the sizing. ARGH. I went from an 8 to a 14 to a 10 without changing body size!
Diphylleia Grayi 1 year ago
we live and grow up in a really toxic environment for every human being
Squirrelly Panda 1 year ago
Can you imagine what they'd say about Marilyn Monroe? Or many of the 1950's pin-up girls? Sheesh!
Valek Fermiga 1 year ago
Hollywood and the media have a LOT to answer for when it comes to " weight " issues, teenagers and under read a lot of magazine's, and are influenced by them, and if they're saying size zero is " fat " then young girls will follow that. Media : take some responsibility....
Lisa H 1 year ago
I'm considered "not pretty enough" to be promoted at my second job. At a restaurant. I'm a US size 4 and there's a bunch of guys that have massive crushes in me. Yet, my self esteem is in the toilet. I'm trying to leave that place as soon as possible for WAY more reasons that this. I just found out about that last night, too. I really hate working there and it's only been two months. Too many red flags to count.
Annemarie Mattheyse 1 year ago
Growing up in the 90s and 00s, I always thought my butt was HUGE and wished it was flatter. I have a butt like J-Lo. I now consider it one of my best assets...
Marley Nachi 1 year ago
so greatful that people are recognising how wrong is is to judge women's body types and making better choices now
DC 1 year ago
I lived at that time. Was already able to read. While I wasn't particularly interested in any of the above, I never read anyone referring to them the way it is told here. Sources? Did that REALLY happen?
Spence Bloom 4 months ago
It’s a crying shame that credence is given to cheap, petty insults. I think whoever said such things should be mentioned and shamed for trash talking, disrespect, and meanness. This compilation of insults is trash.
Leigh Hilderbrandt 4 months ago
It was as bad, if not worse, during the 80s and the early 90s when heroin sheik was all the rage. In numerous TV family shows, the sons ragged on their sisters by calling them fat and/or ugly regularly. Quite a few young actresses developed eating disorders because of it.
Steven Creed 4 months ago
I think people should except people who they are no matter what size, beauty comes in all shapes and sizes, ugliness comes from within not from what's on the outside, you can put a piece of garbage an wrap it in a fancy wrapper an it'll look really nice on the outside but it's garbage on the inside like people that body shame cause their nowhere themselves coming close to looking perfect, for me I've been told im big an ugly an scary looking guy, but the very few say i don't look like what i sound an the person i am, i don't judge people i accept who they are, an the way they look, Marilyn Monroe was beautiful an Liz Taylor an the Gabor sisters, we shouldn't push people to starve themselves to fit what society says what's perfect in their eyes everyone is beautiful in their own way, old saying " Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" everyone stay beautiful on the inside an out.
Victoria Poyner 1 year ago
Love yourself and remember you can just roll on all the skinny little bad mouthed jerks and smother them, having an ample backside comes in handy!
Cydney Golden 1 year ago
Hey, try being a teen aged girl in the 60s. The role model was TWIGGY.
Nikki Sevven 1 year ago
The so-called "ideal" woman changes frequently, from the lush bodies Rubens painted to the boyish figures of 1920s flappers, from the impossible cone boobs of the 1940s to the bottom-heavy Kardashian thing. No single woman can have all those different bodies, therefore the standards are unrealistic and we should all ignore them. Do what's best for your health.
Far Cough Khan 1 year ago
funny its 2023 and i am 58yo now, these photos they all looked super skinny to me now? lmao
Lauren Wilder 1 year ago
Why do we expect artist to suddenly become runway models? Unimaginable expectations are placed on them to be perfect at all times. No one is ever happy. It's a wonder why they fall into depression or get into some type of trouble with an addiction. Then we pin them to the wall about that.
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