Once upon a time, the entertainment industry used to be all about squeezing into a size zero and seeing an endless sea of teeny tiny starlets. The whole industry bred unrealistic body expectations and had a negative impact on countless individuals who didn’t fit that particular mold. Recently, though, things have been majorly changing. More and more curvy celebs are rocking their natural shape on the red carpet and on screen, and more and more celebs are becoming outspoken about the fact that all bodies are beautiful – not just ones that can squeeze into sample sizes.
One of the benefits of the new attitude in Hollywood is that any celebrity who body shames is immediately shamed themselves for the negativity they’re spewing. Other celebrities take offense, fans and viewers take offense, and the message is spelled out pretty clearly – it is 100% not okay to body shame someone, no matter who you are. And frankly, we’re digging the whole body positive wave as of late – it sends a fantastic message and is definitely more positive than the previous ‘thin is in’ vibe that Hollywood had.
Here are 15 celebs who body shamed hard – and got called out for it. You know what your mama used to say – if you can’t say anything nice, maybe just don’t say anything at all.
15 Michael Bublé
Michael Bublé has a voice that sounds like it came straight out of a Rat Pack song, and as far as celebrities go, he’s got an absolutely squeaky clean image. He performs and tours, but generally stays out of the tabloids and keeps to himself. However, even a good reputation as a sweet individual isn’t enough to excuse body shaming. While the crooner was on holiday with his wife and son in Miami, he took a shot of a woman waiting at a counter. The picture, which Bublé posted to his Instagram account, showed a curvy woman from behind, and the singer decided to add a series of ‘witty’ hashtags to his picture including #myhumps, #babygotback, and #hungryshorts. The world pretty much immediately slammed him for his insensitive and offensive comments. So a woman who isn’t a size zero wants to wear short shorts on a hot day in a hot city – that doesn’t give you a free pass to comment on her curves.
14 Lindsey Vonn
Body shaming comes in all shapes and sizes, as Lindsey Vonn demonstrated. Back when she was with golf pro Tiger Woods, Vonn snagged an invite to the prestigious Met Gala. She made a relatable and honest comment about how she felt attending the gala with all the other celebrities, essentially saying that being in a room full of svelte stars in size zero gowns was tough for someone with an athletic build. Fair enough – many of us struggle when comparing our bodies to others’. However, things then took a turn for the worse. Rather than focusing on her own feelings in response to the situation, Vonn started to tear the other celebrities down, saying that “so many of them are skinny-fat. They have more cellulite than most people. I feel like I need to give them a cheeseburger. It’s sexy and beautiful to be strong.” All bodies are beautiful – while not everyone needs to be a slender size zero, not everyone needs to have the build of a professional athlete, either.
13 Nicole Arbour
Sometimes, a celebrity lets a comment slip about one other celebrity that ignites the tabloids. And then, sometimes a celebrity manages to offend literally everyone – just ask Nicole Arbour. The relatively unknown comedian shot to superstardom with her viral video “Dear Fat People,” in which she unleashed heinous comments like “fat-shaming is not a thing. Fat people made that up,” and “that means you are too fat, and you should stop eating.” Arbour later backtracked, saying that the entire video was a clever marketing stunt designed to gain more followers, to which our response is…. Seriously?! It’s entirely possible to create a viral video that makes people laugh or tugs at their heart strings – you don’t need to turn to offensive content to gain fans. We don’t care how many fans or how much money that video earned her – it’s absolutely not okay, as the countless “Dear Nicole Arbour” response videos proved.
12 Dani Mathers
This is the body shame that most will remember, given that it only happened a few days ago and almost immediately went viral. Before the incident, most people had likely never even heard of Dani Mathers – she was named the 2015 Playboy Playmate of the Year, but isn’t exactly an A-List celebrity. However, she made waves when she took a snap of a naked woman who was changing in the locker room of her gym, captioning it “if I can’t unsee this then you can’t either.” Basically, Mathers shamed a woman who was obviously trying to make healthy choices and make a positive change in her life – she was at a gym, for crying out loud, took an explicit photo without her consent or knowledge, and shamed her publicly. Luckily, Mathers’ actions had consequences beyond just people being angry with her on social media. Her Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter accounts were all deleted, and she’s been suspended from her hosting spot on a program on KLOS 95.5.
11 Katie Hopkins
Katie Hopkins is a British journalist and television personality, and while you may not recognize her name initially, you may recognize her as the awful woman who said terrible, body-shaming things about Kelly Clarkson. As most people know, Kelly Clarkson has struggled with her weight ever since stepping into the spotlight, but has always maintained a healthy attitude about it and been a great role model for her fans. Hopkins sunk her claws into the talented singer by taking to Twitter, saying “Jesus, what happened to Kelly Clarkson? Did she eat all of her backing singers?” Hopkins then followed that with charming additions like “Look chubsters, Kelly Clarkson had a baby a year ago. That is no longer baby weight. That is carrot cake weight” and “I would suggest that when she took eating for two and she decided to eat for 10.” The piece de resistance? Her unapologetic “I feel it’s my responsibility to point out to chubsters that they need to get up off their ass, stop costing me money as a taxpayer, and get out there and run a little bit more.” I mean, the woman is so awful she’s basically a caricature.
10 Joy Behar
The View is filled with strong opinions, and Joy Behar is definitely no stranger to speaking her mind – she was paid to speak her mind every weekday for years on end, after all. However, she crossed a line with her comment about Jessica Simpson on the show in 2012. It’s awful enough to body shame anyone for any reason, but body shaming someone who is pregnant or who recently had a baby is twice as bad. In 2012, Behar commented on Simpson’s baby body, saying that “most women who are pregnant are not supposed to gain more than 25 pounds. She looks like she gained a lot more than that.” Simpson has had her fair share of weight struggles over the years, but who on earth thinks to criticize and attack a new mom? That’s just heartless. Simpson’s focus was on making sure her baby was happy and healthy, rather than on snapping back into bikini body shape in record time, and that’s exactly how it should be.
9 Howard Stern
It’s no secret that Howard Stern is offensive – he’s basically built a career on offensive comments. However, fat shaming is an entirely different thing than his normal brutal honesty. On his show, he delivered the strangest instance of fat-shaming wrapped in a compliment about British star Sam Smith. He started out in a lovely way, asking “you know what I like about the guy [Smith]?” What, Stern? His phenomenal voice? His unique style? His positive attitude? Nope – “He’s an ugly mother-----. He’s fat. Is he gay? He looks gay to me, not that anybody looks gay, but he does seem effeminate.” I mean, seriously? Smith has undergone quite the body transformation since he entered the music industry, slimming down considerably due to making some lifestyle changes, but he was just fine to begin with – and he certainly doesn’t deserve to be called fat by anyone. Fans were pretty angry on Smith’s behalf after those rude comments.
8 Diplo
While fat shaming is one of the most common forms of it, body shaming comes in, well, all shapes and sizes – including shaming girls for not having enough curves, as this example demonstrates. Diplo decided to take a shot at Taylor Swift by starting a “Get Taylor Swift a Booty” kickstarter. Swift is known for her very tall, slim figure, and she’s not naturally a very curvy girl – and that’s okay. What’s not okay is shaming her for her natural frame. However, Diplo didn’t have to wait long before one of Swift’s infamous squad took him down – cool girl Lorde responded via Twitter to the offensive Kickstarter campaign by saying that Diplo had a small penis. Honestly – it’s bad enough when women body shame other women, knowing the struggles that their fellow females are likely going through. When a man decides to body shame a woman? Just get out, Diplo. Keep your foolish Kickstarter campaigns to yourself.
7 Wendy Williams
Wendy Williams has a larger than life personality, and as a curvier woman, she’s definitely been on the receiving end of some offensive weight and body shape-related comments. So, it makes it all the more surprising that she’d decide to shame someone on their size. Ariana Grande, as most will know, is a very petite individual. She has a small frame, she’s short, and she’s just tiny in general – apart from her big hair, that is. However, Williams crossed a line when she commented on the pop star’s stature, saying that “she’s 21. She’ll forever look 12, and I don’t mean that in a good way. It’s nice to look younger than you are, but when you look too young and then you’re short – she’s only like 4’11. I don’t look at her as, like, a woman.” Um… excuse you? Do women not come in all shapes and sizes? The comments led to individuals creating a hashtag for the offensive host - #CancelWendyWilliams.
6 Jay Mohr
Okay, how many times do we need to say it – it’s never okay to body shame someone, and it’s especially never okay to body shame a woman who is either pregnant or has recently given birth. I mean, growing an entire human being inside yourself is a lot of hard work, and new moms should focus on their babies rather than trying to squeeze in hours and hours of gym time a day in order to get back to an “acceptable” size. So, Jay Mohr’s comments about Alyssa Milano’s post-baby body were particular loathsome. Mohr was on a podcast, talking about seeing Milano hosting the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion’s Awards, and said that “it seems like she had a baby and said, “I don’t really give a s**t… somebody sat in the director’s chair and was not wearing Spanx and I was like, Jesus Christ.” Milano responded by being crazy classy, and Mohr eventually apologized, but seriously – why on earth would you think that’s an okay thing to say?
5 Cheryl Fernandez-Versini
Cheryl Fernandez-Versini had an embarrassing moment of contradiction awhile back. First, after being body shamed herself, she was outspoken against body shaming, saying that “body shaming has to stop. Something has to be done, changed, even if it’s done in law.” A great anti-shaming sentiment, right? Well, she then followed that up a few weeks later by saying, in an interview with InStyle, that “it’s actually a bad message to tell someone who is obese that they look ‘curvy’ or ‘great.’” So, basically… you should never body shame someone, it should be punishable by law, but it’s okay to shame people who carry a bit of extra weight because it’s unhealthy? While everyone should certainly encourage healthy eating habits and regular exercise, you never know what’s going on in someone’s life – perhaps the person who is slightly overweight has already lost twenty or thirty pounds and hearing that they look great would completely make their day. Forget Cheryl. Tell everyone they look great, no matter what their size is.
4 Karl Lagerfeld
Ah, you didn’t think we could get through a list of body-shamers without including someone from the fashion industry, right? Lagerfeld unquestionably creates great garments at Chanel, but his comments about women and size are definitely questionable. In an episode of Le Grande 8, a French television show, Lagerfeld let loose the charming comment that “the hole in social security, it’s also [due to] all the diseases caught by people who are too fat.” A statement that is both incredibly offensive and lacking sense. Then, of course, we can’t forget when he said that “nobody wants to see curvy women on the catwalk” (news flash Karl – tons of people do, because there are as many curvy women in the world as there are sample size supermodels) and when he called legendary singer Adele “a little too fat.” Careful, Karl, or all the women in the world will start boycotting Chanel.
3 Scott Disick
Fans of Keeping Up With The Kardashians had a bit of a love-hate relationship with Kourtney Kardashian’s former partner, but one of the moments where fans hated him the most was when he body-shamed Kourtney shortly after she had a baby. As he said to her (on camera, no less) – “last time around you tried to watch what you were eating after you had Mason…. At least you were losing weight. If I would have fell in love with you a couple of pounds overweight, this would be my ideal weight, but I fell in love with you when you were super skinny.” Um, excuse me? Thank goodness that Kourtney finally decided to kick that scrub to the curb, because that was absolutely not okay. Kourtney Kardashian has an incredibly body, and she had an incredibly body after giving birth – and whether she wants to whip herself back into pre-baby shape is completely her choice.
2 Howard Stern (Part 2)
Given the sheer volume of offensive statements that Howard Stern makes, it only makes sense that he’d make a second appearance on a list involving celebrities who body shame others – this time, his target was Lena Dunham. Stern acknowledged Dunham’s talents, calling her “terrific,” but then followed that up by saying she was a “little fat girl who kinda looks like Jonah Hill.” And then, rather than praising Lena Dunham for showing her body on Girls and bravely putting forth a different type of body than is frequently seen on television, he said that “it’s like – I don’t want to see that.” God forbid you have to see a body that isn’t a size zero, right Howard? Dunham stood up for herself, calling the radio show after Stern apologized for his statements (probably only because people were upset, and not because he actually felt bad about what he had said), he consoled her by saying “you’re not obese or anything.” I mean, honestly.
1 Tyrese Gibson
Back in 2013, Tyrese Gibson unleashed a body-shaming tirade that left people stunned – and even after the fact, he didn’t actually apologize for the offensive things he said, he just commented that he could have phrased his thoughts a bit better. So, what did he say? “If you are fat and nasty and you don’t like the way you look, do something about it. It’s simple. When you take a shower and you put your fat, nasty body in the shower and by the time you get out, the mirrors are all steamed up so you don’t look at what you did to yourself… you are big as hell because you have earned that s**t. You worked your a** off to eat everything in sight to get big as hell.” We hope that everyone who had to read Tyrese’s comments takes a good look at themselves in a non-steamed up mirror and tells themselves how beautiful their body is – and that it is most definitely not fat and nasty, as Tyrese wants them to think.
Sources: buzzfeed.com, dailymail.co.uk
