Why Do We Even Care?

In the past week there was a lot of chat about a photo of Billie Eilish which appeared online. She was not dressed in the way she would usually dress for an event, interview or music video - as I imagine she was not doing any of those things at the time. A large section of the internet decided that her body was not up to their standards and they wanted her, and us, to know that.

It reminded me of the widespread “discussions” that have also been happening online recently with regards to Adele and Rebel Wilson’s visible weight loss. Not saying that the internet only has opinions on women’s bodies; Brendan Fraser's treatment is testament to that.

It also brought back memories of looking through “women’s magazines” and seeing the body parts of celebrities circled because they were in some way oddly shaped or “too fat”. The fear I had as a seventeen year old, thinking of becoming a professional actor, of appearing on a red carpet and having my weird toes circled, or my bulging belly or the gap in my teeth. I was so afraid of those red circles.

Now, I can’t help but think of these amazing artists just going about their daily lives but having every inch of their bodies scrutinised and how infuriating it must be. What their bodies look like has nothing to do with their jobs.

You might say Amy but image is very important when it comes to being a musician or an actor and I say why is it? Is it important to you? When you listen to Adele’s latest release do you think about what she’s wearing? Can you imagine Rebel as a leading lady? You can imagine Ian McKellan as a 2,000 year old wizard but not a fat woman as a love interest? Think about why that may be.

Who is telling us that celebrities must look a certain way? And why are they telling us this?

In my eyes it’s to make us feel bad that we are not reaching a certain standard so we buy more stuff, more memberships, more low fat yoghurt.

As an actor, the only reason I would change my appearance drastically would be if I was playing a character that had actually existed. For example, Michael Fassbender in the film Hunger, underwent a dramatic loss in weight to depict Bobby Sands during his hunger strike. There are currently no digital ways of making a body undergo this kind of transformation so you would have to do it for real. I would request a nutritionist though so that I could do it safely.

However, if you want me to lose weight because you don’t think I could be believable as a love interest or you need me to bulk up because you don’t think a body like mine could be strong. Nah. You need to rethink that.

I think we need to look at why celebrity image is held to such a high standard, why we are being forced to compare ourselves to others and who is benefiting from this because it’s certainly not me or you.