To be honest, this column started off, at least in my head, as a story about Kirstie Alley. I like to occasionally write about stars, but not the big superstar ones because that's too easy and not real exciting.
Alley was a successful actress in the 1980s and '90s appearing in the first Star Trek movie and taking over from Shelley Long on Cheers. Like many of us, she put on a few pounds over the years. While that might kind of suck for most of us, for an actor that's pretty much career suicide.
She had a reality style show on TV called Fat Actress, which seems to me to be one of the first of those "reality" shows about celebrities and their issues.
The basic rule is if you are going to be overweight (don't call us fat or obese, no one wants to hear that) in showbiz then you better be funny. Chris Farley and John Candy were big stars and usually played the clutzy buffoon. Of course, they both tragically died way too early. Later on Kevin James and Melissa McCarthy became stars on TV and then movies doing the same type of thing.
Jonah Hill was super funny in Super Bad. It wasn't really until he lost a lot of weight that he went into doing more serious roles and became accepted as a serious actor.
As far as singers go, there are certainly more overweight singers now than there were. Back in the days of 24-hour music videos on MTV and MuchMusic, you had to pretty much be thin and attractive to be a star.
Let's face it, no one wants to be fat. Unless you're maybe a pro football player or sumo wrestler, extra weight is not good. It can cause or exacerbate health problems for certain. As well, there is a perception that chubby people are lazy. It's considered politically incorrect these days, and rightfully so, to make fun of someone for their sexuality or ethnicity but apparently weight is still not taboo.
Why doesn't he or she just go on a diet? Yeah, it's not hard to know how to lose weight. Doing it is another issue. Not to get too tinfoil hat on you dear reader, but let's face it, the big companies are smart. They get you hooked on the sweet stuff. Cheeseburgers are delicious. Gravy and chips too. Broccoli and quinoa not so much.
Sadly body shaming and food stigmatizing starts early. Even children are supposed to fit society's ideals of the perfect shape (size 0). We feel guilty because we overeat and we overeat because we feel guilty. It's a vicious cycle.
I remember feeling overweight in high school and in university, but I see photos and I'm like, what -- I was so fit. Thanks to Facebook, I can see that there are other people that feel that way.
I am currently reading a biography by Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller fame. The magician talks about his greatest trick of losing 100 pounds after having a heart attack and major health scare. I suppose the book is supposed to be inspirational, although some of the diets (such as the potato only diet) he uses are pretty sketchy.
The fact that Penn fat shames himself (before the weight loss) is pretty sad. Again body shaming and making food out to be this malevolent force of evil isn't healthy for anyone.
- Craig Lindsay is the reporter for the Mountain View Gazette
