Seriously, enough already

Can the celebrity journalist weight-control police take it down a notch for just one week? Just one. One week of no reporting about extreme dieting and celebrity thunder thighs.
Scarlett Johansson is the latest target. Johansson, who has always displayed one of the more normal looking bodies in Hollywood, has been under scrutiny because of her recent weight loss estimated at around 15 pounds. She is being accused of starving herself and succumbing to a brutal workout regimen at the urging of her co-stars.

Johansson does not deny that she has indeed lost weight. She said that she’s never worked out as hard as this in her life because she is getting her voluptuous curves cat-suit ready for her role in “Iron Man 2.” She is denying, however, that she is resorting to drastic measures to do so.
Would Hollywood and the public accept a curvier Johansson in a cat suit? Probably not. She’s damned if she does and damned if she doesn’t.

Stars like Nicole Ritchie and Lindsay Lohan have been on both sides of the weight debate, first being called too fat and then too thin after the dramatic weight losses they both experienced. Jessica Simpson was recently publicly humiliated because of her size. Kim Kardashian and Jennifer Love Hewitt were both blasted for (Egads!) having cellulite, Love Hewitt made the cover of People because of it. And Valerie Bertinelli, who was initially praised because of her weight-loss using Jenny Craig, is now being scrutinized for setting the bridge too high for ladies over 40.

All of these ladies look fantastic. What kind of message does this send to the women of America? Women who compare themselves to these celebrities? Women who think, “What must people think about me if they think SHE looks bad?”

The South Carolina Department of Mental Health said seven million women in America suffer from an eating disorder. Eating disorders do not discriminate. The rates of women affected by them are roughly the same for all races. The average person is exposed to a few hundred advertisements a day. They all feature perfect looking people pitching products. Nearly half of all Americans know someone who suffers from an eating disorder.

There seems to be no happy medium when it comes to celebrities, body image and average American women. Johansson, who said she “enjoys a grilled cheese as much as the next person” but keeps a healthy balance in her diet, should be applauded for blasting back against the media from “her healthy heart” as she says on her blog. Do us a favor celebrity-tabloids and give it a rest. We’re tired of hearing about it. American women everywhere, you’re all beautiful. Now go make yourselves a grilled cheese.