Sometimes, Hollywood can majorly impact your self-esteem — and not in a good way. There are so, so many actresses who are super svelte size zeroes, and even though every woman knows that's not the average size, it can feel like it is when all you see is super teeny celebrities. Yes, the logical part of your brain knows that it's their job to stay slim and toned and to maintain their physique, but when you're killing yourself at the gym and trying to eat well and still aren't looking like your favourite starlets because, well, that's just not your natural body type — it can be majorly discouraging.
That's why we're obsessed with all the gorgeous celebrity women who aren't size zeroes — the ones who have achieved a ton of success in the entertainment industry and are proving every day that you don't need to shrink down to a size zero in order to become a star. These ladies inspire us to embrace our body, and many of them are actually speaking out about the size issue in Hollywood and how even they can't find designers to dress them and garments to fit their average size bodies.
The point is — we love these ladies. A lot. Here are 16 actual celebrity dress sizes of gorgeous women who will make you feel a lot better about the fact that you may never squeeze into a size zero (and that's okay!!)
16 The fiery redhead Christina Hendricks, who is anywhere from a size 10-14
When Mad Men kicked off, although Jon Hamm's Don Draper was without doubt the star of the show, there was one particular character that caught everyone's eye almost immediately — Joan. Christina Hendricks' portrayal of the sassy, sexy character was spot on, and she proved to audiences that you didn't need to be a size zero to be a sultry bombshell. Joan had major curves — and she embraced them. And the world followed suit. Christina Hendricks is said to be somewhere between a size 10 and 14 (she fluctuates, like many women do), and while she's a bit over talking about her size now (she told a reporter that "calling me full-figured is just rude), she's proof that you can be sexy at any size. Now, if only we knew how to channel Joan's sass...
15 The gorgeous Mindy Kaling, who is a size 8
One of the things we loved most about Mindy Kaling's sassy Dr. Mindy Lahiri on The Mindy Project was that she was insanely confident. She may be a bit on the curvier side, but she totally rocked it and knew she was gorgeous — that's a huge statement in an industry where it's often only size zeroes who show that kind of body confidence. Kaling herself is a size 8, and she's totally fearless when it comes to her fashion choices. She's not afraid to rock bodycon dresses and brightly coloured garments — she shows off that bod that she works hard for and is proud of it, and that's a message we love supporting. I mean, why not be proud of your curves rather than trying to squeeze them into Spanx like the entertainment industry seems to demand.
14 Bryce Dallas Howard, who is a size 6 and outspoken about how designers never have options for her
As far as sizes go, a size 6 is definitely on the smaller side of the spectrum — however, Bryce Dallas Howard's comments have proven that in Hollywood, a 6 is still considered too big. You'd think that designers would be thrilled to dress any A-List celebrity for the red carpet, but that's not the case. It seems that celebrities who aren't the sample size the designers are accustomed to working with are often out of luck when it comes to getting gowns for the red carpet. So, Bryce Dallas Howard has taken things into her own hands — she admitted on the red carpet that she almost always buys her gowns at department stores because "I like having lots of options for a size six, as opposed to maybe one option." Preach, girl!
13 Country superstar Miranda Lambert, who's a size 6 now
Miranda Lambert has definitely slimmed down a bit recently, but her new physique has absolutely nothing to do with the pressures of the entertainment industry, and she's certainly not trying to fit into a size zero culture. She slimmed down because she made some changes to lead a healthier lifestyle, but she embraces her body at any size. As she told Glamour way back in 2014, "I'm recently a size 6, which I'm proud of, but I've been a size 8 all these years and it didn't hold me back." I mean, with a voice like hers, we'd like to think she'd be scooped up by any label regardless of her appearance, but unfortunately that's not always how it works — sometimes, even in the music industry, looks seems to trump talent. We hope Lambert continues rocking for years to come.
12 Dascha Polanco, who is a size 10 and on a hugely successful television show
One of the things we loved most about Orange Is The New Black — you know, apart from the insane storylines and incredible acting — was that the cast was so diverse. There were women of all shapes and sizes, and that's a fantastic message to be sending out. Dascha Polanco is a size 10, which is totally normal in the real world, but definitely on the larger side when it comes to Hollywood standards. She's been outspoken about the size bias in the industry, telling Vogue that "I understand that it's business but still, it's like, really? My industry friends, who are clear and honest with me, say 'Girl they don't have your size, and you're not at that level yet, so you have to either move that way or just build those relationships so that later in the future maybe it happens.'" Uh, we're pretty sure she's at that level know — where are the gorgeous gowns for her?!
11 Kat Dennings, whose size 6-8 curves we are seriously jealous of
Kat Dennings proves just how precise Hollywood's idea of a 'perfect' body is. Dennings is fairly petite — she's about a size six or eight — but she definitely has some major curves up top, and as a result, is often labeled curvy (or worse). It seems that Hollywood wants women to be slim, but not too slim, curvy, but not too curvy — it's infuriating! Luckily, Dennings is having the last laugh as the star of a successful television show. When 2 Broke Girls finally wraps, we have no doubt that she'll have a ton of people knocking on her door looking to give her her next big gig. She's gorgeous and hilarious and clearly works hard, so we hope she's insanely successful and never has to deal with another jerk who labels her fat just because she has some natural curves.
10 Demi Lovato, who is embracing her size 8 body after years of struggling with an eating disorder
Demi Lovato certainly hasn't had an easy journey. She shot to superstardom when she was just a teenager as a singer and Disney star, and began struggling with everything from an eating disorder to substance abuse issues. She's battled through it and come out on top, and now she's a glowing light of positivity and confidence that we're all super inspired by. She's also been super outspoken about her battle with body image and an eating disorder, and is constantly telling the media how proud she is of her size 8 physique, which some may view as too big for a pop star. She embraces her body, absolutely rocks all the tight costumes she wears on stage, and is super inspiring. I mean, she's totally gorgeous — but it probably took a lot of courage to take such an outspoken stance on her body.
9 Rebel Wilson, a curvy size 12 who is totally fine with not conforming to Hollywood's ideal body type
Rebel Wilson may make jokes about her size from time to time, but the underlying current is never shame — she's proud of her curvy physique, and she's not about to apologize to anyone for not fitting into the Hollywood ideal. She, like Melissa McCarthy, has even used her platform as a celebrity to work on a plus-sized clothing range in order to help all the women out there find fantastic fashion for their size. It just goes to prove that the idea you need to be a size zero to succeed in Hollywood is an absolutely myth — you don't need to be anything except for insanely talented, as all these ladies prove. It's definitely a tough industry if you're on the larger size, but if you're confident and outspoken about embracing your body, that has such a tremendous impact on all the women out there.
8 Aidy Bryant, a size 18 superstar who cracks us up constantly
Aidy Bryant is hilarious and insanely successful — after all, it's a very small, elite group of comedians who manage to snag a spot on the iconic Saturday Night Live, and she's one of them. However, that doesn't mean she has an easy time when it comes to finding gowns for the red carpet. She spilled to PeopleStyle that she begged for years to get something from designers that didn't look "like they were designed for the mother of the bride." She took a shot at the fashion industry, saying that "I don't understand what the resistance is to it. To me it just feels like a no-brainer that you would want to dress as many people as you could." We totally agree! And, since she got a custom Eloquii dress for the Emmys, and even walked the runway for Opening Ceremony, it seems like the industry is slowly heading in the right direction.
7 Melissa McCarthy, a size 16+ who is all about making fantastic fashion available for all sizes
Melissa McCarthy is without question one of the funniest women in Hollywood. She's totally gorgeous, but also totally unafraid to wiggle into some dowdier costumes and make some crazy faces in the name of comedy. There's a reason she's made it to the top — she's crazy talented — but she's battled people critical of her size the whole way there. McCarthy, who has said that she's somewhere north of a 16, has spoken out about the reality of size discrimination in Hollywood, and said that she's sometimes wished she were "magically a size 6." However, she's learned to embrace her curves, and is even helping women around the world do the same by creating her own fashion line that allows women of all sizes to feel fabulous. We knew we loved her for a reason!
6 Leslie Jones, whose red carpet moment drew attention to the fact that even size 10 is too big for Hollywood
Leslie Jones is no shrinking violet — her larger than life personality is a huge part of why she's such a hilarious comedian, and it's also the reason she managed to create such a fuss over size bias in Hollywood. When it came time to walk the red carpet the season that her hit movie, the all female Ghostbusters reboot, was out, she figured designers could be throwing gowns at her left, right and center — but they actually refused to dress her. She took to Twitter, telling the world about the situation she was encountering and how it wasn't okay. Designer Christian Siriano stepped up, sending her a gorgeous red gown, and replied that "congrats aren't in order. A change is." Uh... can Siriano please be our new BFF? We love him.
5 Ashley Graham, a size 14 supermodel who proves that models don't all have to be a size 0
Once upon a time, plus-sized models barely existed. They may have been used for certain campaigns, but they certainly weren't household names like the standard size models were. However, that's slowly been changing — and it's in large part due to incredibly talented models like Ashley Graham, who are both gorgeous and unafraid to speak out about the issues in the fashion industry. Graham has been at the center of countless campaigns, often showing off her curves in lingerie and swimwear as well as in regular clothing, and she's proving that models don't have to be a size zero. She even called out the industry on air, saying that "trying to find a dress for the Oscars, girls my size, it has been a whole job in itself." She looked gorgeous that evening, as she always does, and we loved that she took a bit of a shot at the size discrimination in the industry.
4 Brooklyn Decker, whose curves make her a size 4
Okay, a size four really isn't large at all, even in comparison to other actresses in the industry. However, when Brooklyn Decker first stepped onto the scene, people were obsessed with the fact that she actually had fairly generous curves up top, despite being a model. It just goes to prove that there's size discrimination of so many kinds in the industry — you should be a curvy model if you want to model swimwear, but not too curvy! Decker transitioned her career as a model into an acting career, and is now a successful actress and entrepreneur — and she totally embraces her body. We love all these models who are showing the world that you don't need to be a rail thin size zero to be successful — there's room for every kind of physique.
3 Katy Perry, whose size 8 physique looks phenomenal in all her crazy costumes
Katy Perry has become known in the industry for two things, beyond her vocals — her over the top costumes on stage, and her curves. She's fairly petite by the average person's standards, but in the world of size zero pop stars, her size eight physique definitely puts her at curvier than average. However, it's not something she tries to hide in oversized garments on stage — she shows off every inch of her body in her wild costumes, and her audiences loves her for it. It's yet another example that proves the world isn't just interested in seeing the very specific 'ideal' body that the entertainment industry tries to press on us — people want to see talented celebrities of all shapes and sizes, and we love that Perry has never bowed to the pressure to slim down for the stage.
2 Jessica Alba, who looks fantastic and is a size 4-6
Jessica Alba is by no means large at all — she's around a size 4 to 6 — but she's definitely a bit curvier now than she was when she first started in the industry. And it makes sense why — she's now a mom, she's now a bit older, she's embraced her body and her curves and we totally love her for it. She's certainly been in a lot of projects where she's rocking skin-tight superhero costumes or bikinis, so there must have been a huge temptation to slim down like crazy before each of those roles. But instead of focusing on toxic diets, she's focused on embracing things like healthy products and raising her children, which is super inspirational. She's taken a bit of a step back from Hollywood to work on building her insanely successful company, but she could easily come back in a major way — audiences love her.
1 Rachel Bloom, a size 10 who bought her own red carpet gown!
The story that Rachel Bloom shared about her Emmy dress just exemplifies everything that is wrong with the industry. Bloom is an actress and creator of the hilarious show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. You'd think every designer would want to dress such a powerhouse for the red carpet, right? Wrong. Bloom has said that she's found it impossible to get gowns from designers, so she ended up just straight out buying the pricy Gucci dress she wore on the red carpet. As she told Giuliana Rancic, "I've said in an interview before, 'oh, sometimes it's hard for places to lend me dresses because I'm not like, a size 0,' but also I can afford it, so it's okay." While it's great that she's successful, it's still not fair that actresses larger than a size zero don't have the same opportunities — she totally rocked the Gucci gown, and would definitely rock any other designer gown sent her way because she's insanely beautiful.
Sources: liveabout, popcrush.com, scribol.com, people.com, madamenoire.com
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