Body shaming in the media has always been a pretty hot topic, and that hasn't changed these days. In fact, there seems to be even more body shaming going on these days, believe it or not. Pretty recently, Playboy model Dani Mathers landed herself in a whole lot of hot water after snapping a photo of an unsuspecting woman's body in the locker room of an L.A. gym. Dani claimed that the snap was meant to be sent as a direct message, but that didn't change the content with the caption "If I can’t unsee this then you can’t either!" She got fired and was also banned from the gym. It's crazy when you really think about the fact that people are that comfortable being mean to other people for any reason... and that these people have no issues publicly voicing their horrible opinions. The following celebrities have been publicly body shamed, but they have all set a good example by discussing the incident afterward... if not directly calling out their haters.
15 Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Aniston was the victim of body shaming recently when people started speculating about whether she was pregnant because it looked like she might have gained a few pounds. It's natural to wonder in some cases, but at the same time, creating a hoopla around it just suggests that the only reason Jennifer Aniston might gain some weight would be because she is pregnant. That's a concept that needs to change, and she had a passionate response to it. She's not on social media so she wrote an essay in the Huffington Post about her distaste for celebrity gossip and the way so much of it is handled. She cleared things up by saying "For the record, I am not pregnant. What I am is fed up. I’m fed up with the sport-like scrutiny and body shaming that occurs daily under the guise of “journalism,” the “First Amendment” and “celebrity news.”
14 Susan Sarandon
A lot of times, when we think about body shaming, we think about someone's weight, but body shaming can come in all kinds of forms. The actress Susan Sarandon has actually been body shamed about her age. At the 22nd annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, Susan wore a top that left her cleavage on display and got a crazy amount of backlash for it. Showing body parts like cleavage is pretty standard on the red carpet, and the rest of her outfit was extremely conservative. The issue that people had was the fact that she is 69 years old and people think that's too old to try to look hot. So despite the fact that she truly looked amazing, people want to find fault with her based on a totally ridiculous idea. Of course, you can be hot and gorgeous at any age, and we totally think she fits that description.
13 Demi Lovato
One celeb who is no stranger to this kind of scrutiny, but has really been open, honest, and has handled herself so well throughout it all. Demi Lovato has been super open for a pretty long time about her past experiences being bullied and her personal struggle with accepting herself. That definitely makes it even more of a bummer that people still come after her with their own drama. She once tweeted: "Dear haters, you don't have to like me cause I love you. Everyone's equal, everyone has a soul, and everyone deserves to be loved." So true. We just love that. Once Demi was in the middle of a Twitter scandal when someone claimed that she was actually bullying them at a meet a greet... and that she called them fat. Iggy Azalea immediately came to Demi's defense and called b.s. on the hoax. It's definitely nice to know that women in the music business are standing up for each other amidst the chaos.
12 Emma Stone
While a lot of celebs are body shamed in the sense that they're called too fat, Emma Stone has had the opposite problem. Many people have suggested that she is too skinny and write things like "eat a sandwich" on her photos. It may be a different message but it's definitely still body shaming all the same. She has admitted that sometimes it gets to her and that she has spent time looking at herself in the mirror being mean to herself. But then she ultimately realized that she does take care of herself, and that accepting her body as it is as powerful of a message as anything. She is always conscious of setting a good example for other girls, but everyone can only do that to the extent that are loving who they are while they're doing it. "We're shaming each other and we're shaming ourselves, and it sucks."
11 Selena Gomez
Selena Gomez is one of the cutest people around so it is hard to imagine why anyone would body shame let alone troll or bully her in general, but of course, it happens. While many of us can experience this, it's good to see celebrities who stand up and take action on such a cause. after all, they are people too. There was a period of time where she might have appeared a little bigger than her average weight and people could not help but put in their two sense about her bikini body. When the negative comments starting coming at her instead of feeling bad about it, she posted a photo of herself in a bathing suit with the caption: "I love being happy with me y'all #theresmoretolove." More to love people! We should definitely all know by now that smaller does not necessarily mean better. Selena's response is a good reminder that the way that we feel about ourselves is what truly matters in the end, not what other people say and think.
10 Kim Kardashian
Kim Kardashian really took some heat for the weight she gained during her first pregnancy. Like come on people, she is pregnant. Honestly, some people have no shame in the things they write. The obviously crazy thing here is that... she was pregnant. Adding to the fact that Kim gained weight because she was pregnant, she also suffered from preeclampsia which can make you retain water. Generally is Kim is celebrated for having a curvy body and also totally accepting her size and shape. So it's super unfortunate that some of the same people who appreciate that turnaround and say negative and horrible things about her and her body. Kim, naturally, threw it right back at the haters, saying "shame on you. I'm not perfect but I will never conform to your skinny standards sorry!" She never should, either, and we don't think that she's ever going to. Just another reason we're Kim fans.
9 Sasha Pieterse
You might have seen this in the media often recently, or maybe you haven't but, Pretty Little Liars star Sasha Pieterse started getting some pretty negative attention online when her weight fluctuated a bit. In response, she posted a photo on Instagram that said: "I am currently under construction... thank you for your patience." Sasha then went on to explain that she was dealing with some hormonal fluctuations, which was what was causing her weight to fluctuate. Instead of just blaming her hormones for the issue, she urged her fans to keep in mind what being truly healthy really means. She mentioned that being healthy of course is all about eating properly and working out. She also said that being healthy means surrounding yourself with people who care about you and want you to be the most successful version of yourself. Haters not included. Just remember, haters gon' hate so just do you and what's best for you too.
8 Tyra Banks
Tyra Banks was the victim of body shaming when some paparazzi photos of her in a bathing suit were released, focusing not on how great she looked but on the supposed weight she had gained. Of course, Tyra might be criticized more than the average person over the shape of her body since she is a supermodel, after all. Tyra decided to clap back at the haters from the platform of her own TV show Tyra. When she discussed the incident, she delivered a hearty response that was considered one of the most memorable moments on her show. "To all of you that have something nasty to say about me, or other women that are built like me, women that sometimes or all the time look like this, women whose names you know, women whose names you don't, women who have been picked on, women whose husbands put them down, women at work or girls in school — I have one thing to say to you. Kiss my fat a**!"
7 Melissa McCarthy
Melissa McCarthy's weight has been discussed many times, which must be so frustrating or her to deal with. One of which was when critic Rex Reed described her as "tractor-sized" in his review of her movie Identity Thief. Aye, carumba. When a reporter for the New York Times asked Melissa about how she felt about the comment, she had a super peaceful response. She said that she "felt really bad for someone who is swimming in so much hate," since she spends too much of her time laughing with her husband and children and just enjoying life. As she should. You have to wonder how someone could sleep at night after saying something so rude and completely unrelated to actually reviewing the film. We can only hope that responses like hers start to knock some sense into people's minds. It's what inside that counts, after all, and more of us should remember that.
6 Kristen Bell
Veronica Mars star Kristen Bell definitely had a ton of haters discussing her post-baby body, but she seemed to shake it off pretty well. It's really amazing to see what lengths people will go online to throw so much hate towards someone, without any compassion to what that person may be dealing with. Sure celebrity displays their life to the world, but you don't ever have the full story. Kristen has said that "Comparison is one long, agonizing death and does not interest me at all." It's true when you really break it down...how on earth does comparing anyone get you anywhere? We're not supposed to all look or act the same and nor we do really expect that. So why do we continue to measure one person's arm size against another's? It literally makes no sense but getting out of the place of comparisons requires that everyone be comfortable enough with themselves to just accept themselves first, and then they would stop worrying about everyone else. It sounds like Kristen has got that self-esteem thing down. Just another reason we love her.
5 Jennifer Lawrence
Jennifer Lawrence has always been open about her body type, food, and other related topics. She's really one celeb that is so real and so relatable, and that's why we love her! She has always been adamant about the fact that she is fine the way she is, and has even said that "If anybody even tries to whisper the word 'diet,' I'm like, 'You can go f*** yourself.' " Clearly, she doesn't want to answer to anyone besides herself. Jennifer has been very vocal about the fact that the expectations for women to be thin are too extreme and that she hopes to be able to help change some of that. The actress wants Hollywood (and everyone else) to embrace a "new normal" when it comes to size, so that women with healthy body proportions can stop considering themselves overweight if they aren't. And also so that it isn't necessary to refer to women as "curvy" who are actually just natural bodies.
4 Meghan Trainor
Meghan Trainor actually pulled the video for her song "Me Too" after it debuted because she realized that her waist had been altered to make her appear thinner. That's really a big move on her part, and good for her! So she wasn't technically verbally body shamed, but this still counts and it still had to make our list. The fact that someone behind the scenes decided that they should make Meghan look thinner means that they wanted to sell a fake version of her, not the real version. The problem with this, of course, is the trickle down effect that it causes. If you give the public a fake image of someone, they might develop unrealistic expectations about people look like. Then there's more pressure on the average person, as well as the performers to continue to up the anti. The same thing goes for extreme photoshopping with print images. It has to end somewhere.
3 Amy Schumer
Amy Schumer is outspoken about pretty much everything, so it is not surprising that she has plenty of responses ready for people who want to complain about her weight. One time Amy clapped back at the haters by posting a photo with the caption "I am a size 6 and have no plans of changing. This is it. Stay on or get off. Kisses!" She is making a couple good points here. One is that she is a totally average size and cannot be considered fat no matter how you slice it. Another is, that she has no intentions to live her life any differently no matter how many people try to criticize her ways. And then perhaps most importantly, if you do not like what is happening, you certainly do not need to stick around for it. We should definitely keep that in mind while we live our everyday lives, right?
2 Kelly Clarkson
Kelly Clarkson was body shamed by the British TV personality, Katie Hopkins. Katie tweeted something pretty mean about Kelly when she suggested that her large size was due to the possibility that she has eaten all of her backup singers. Kelly had pretty much the perfect response, which highlighted how bizarre it really is to talk poorly about people that you don't even know. She basically said that the woman only tweeted something nasty about her because she didn't know her, and if she did know she would know that she was awesome. Kelly was also a new mom at the time, and it sounds like becoming a mother has helped changed some of her perspectives about how she relates to the world. "I've just never cared what people think. It's more if I'm happy and I'm confident and feeling good, that's always been my thing. And more so now, since having a family — I don't seek out any other acceptance."
1 Gabourey Sidibe
When Gabourey Sidibe appeared at the 2014 Golden Globe awards, some people made some super rude comments about her appearance. She didn't seem to be affected by it and responded hilariously on Twitter. "To people making mean comments about my GG pics, I most def cried about it on that private jet on my way to my dream job last night. #JK." Snap. Gabourey made her acting debut in Precious which got her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Since then she's starred on The Big C, American Horror Story, Empire, and Difficult People. But things weren't always going so smoothly for the actress. Before Gabourey landed Precious she says that Joan Cusack told her that she should quit the business over how image conscious it is. Yuck. It's pretty great that she didn't listen and kept pursuing her dreams. That can be said for every strong woman on this list!
