From Lizzo to Ashley Graham, body-positive celebs who got hate for slimming down
It's the “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” scenario. Plus-size celebrities like Lizzo, Ashley Graham, Rebel Wilson, Adele and Tiffany Haddish -- all of whom famously advocated for body positivity, are getting a lot of hate from their fans after they slimmed down in recent years.
Body positive celebrities have long faced the unending battle of not being able to please everyone. When they embraced their curves and rejected the diet culture, they were criticized for not being fit enough or meeting the beauty standards that the entertainment industry expects of them. And now that these celebrities have decided to tone their bodies, through hard work and by changing their lifestyles, they are being accused of not living up to the tag of body positive role models that everyone expects them to be. Basically they can't win.
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Here is looking at the weight loss journey of a few of these well-known celebrities:
Lizzo
The 33-year-old Grammy winner has forever shared messages of self love, and built her reputation on being unabashed about showing off her super-curvaceous body to her fans. So it was understandable that she faced a lot of backlash when she took to her Instagram Story in December 2020 to share that she had done a 10-day, smoothie-based detox. Fans were outraged to see her drinking “beauty water” and consuming vegan protein bars in videos. It was a diet overseen by weight-loss expert JJ Smith. Defending herself on Instagram, Lizzo said, “I detoxed my body and I’m still fat.”
Lizzo has also added working out to her daily regime and the results are showing as her body already looks slightly slimmed down and fitter. She announced on TikTok that she used to hate her body when she looked at old pics of herself. “I was so fine back then!” she said. She said that she now apreciates "all" of herself. In February this year, she posted a video on TikTok, comparing a side-by-side transformation of herself, showing off her weight loss journey from before the beginning to the present. “Both girls are happy,” she said. “That’s the most important part about your lifestyle and loving your body. Shaming people does not make a difference. Loving people for who they are does.”
Ashley Graham
Ashley Graham is a proud plus-size model whose body has evolved quite a lot over the years. However, one thing that has remained the same is her stress on self love and body positivity. The 33-year-old is known for her curves and embracing her stretch marks in her Instagram “Love the skin you’re in,” Graham captioned a post featuring her nude body with stretch marks after giving birth to her son in 2020.
However, Graham has also strived to be fit for the job she does, and in the process, sometimes lost a little more weight that fans were comfortable with. Once such example was when she posted a considerably slimmed-down snap in 2016. “Why are you changing yourself? I thought you were comfortable being yourself and being plus size?” wrote one commenter. Graham hit back, saying, “At the end of the day I’m good enough for me.”
In 2018, Graham talked to Glamour after posing as the publication's digital cover girl for November, opening up about the backlash she received after losing weight. “It sucked that everybody had to go in on me like, ‘Oh, you lost so much weight,’” she said. "If these people actually knew me — which, you know, they don’t and maybe never will — they would know that my body just hasn’t changed. To be completely honest, I’ve gained weight in the last five years, not lost weight. If you actually look at my IMG Polaroids from when I first signed with them to now, you can tell I’m thicker. I mean, it’s just age. Geez. Whatever!”
Rebel Wilson
Rebel Wilson have been attacked by trolls who have called her weight loss “toxic and depressing” and a symptom of Hollywood’s fatphobia. Although she has mostly never tried to hide her journey of becoming fitter, heavily documenting it last year - which she dubbed “the year of health," it has not been met with the most perfect of reviews from her fans.
Since then, she has lost some 60 pounds. In an interview earlier this year, she revealed how people treat her differently now. “Sometimes being bigger, people didn’t necessarily look twice at you. And now that I’m in a good shape, like, people offer to carry my groceries to the car and hold doors open,” she said on 'The Morning Crew with Hughesy, Ed and Erin.'
Adele
The 33-year-old singer has been known by her fans for her powerful voice and her curvy physique. However, in May 2020, she shocked her fans with an Instagram post, where she displayed a dramatic weight loss. While some celebrated her transformation, there were fans who were not quite happy with it and even went so far as to call her a sellout.
The 'Hello' singer has mostly chosen to stay away from discussions about her body; she made light of the situation when she hosted 'Saturday Night Live' in October 2020. “I know I look really, really different since you last saw me,” she quipped. “But actually because of all the COVID restrictions and the travel bans, I had to travel light and I could only bring half of me, and this is the half I chose.”
Tiffany Haddish
Tiffany Hadish is one celebrity who used the spare time during the coronavirus quarantine to transform her body by losing 40 pounds. She shared a before-and-after picture of her weight loss after a 30-day fitness program on Instagram in January.
In the collage, a smiling Haddish flexes her newly defined muscle in the after pic. "Before my 30 day transformation and after," the 'Like A Boss' actress captioned the photo. "Now #SHEREADY to build Muscle and Maybe shave my armpits."
She had begun the 30-Day Transformation Team program on November 27 last year.
In December, she spoke to People Magazine about her fitness goals. She said she had lost an addiitonal 10 pounds in just three weeks of following the program and was now focused on toning her muscles. "I'm very skinny, it's going good," she said of her progress. "I don't really want to lose any more weight. I want to now just sculpt it all, sculpt off the fat so I can get to the muscle. The goal is to have abs by New Year's Day! We'll see."