This is very very shallow of me, I don't respect myself but Amal Clooney, has she eaten anything since last year?

[nigelslaterfan]

There is something horrible the way she was catapulted into fame, it must be shocking and you can forgive her wanting to look her best, but oh lordy she looks tiny now.

She was fine just being gorgeous and brilliant and selfish old George had to acquire her for his greater glory. I have a lot of respect for her but I wish our society didn't make women feel this kind of pressure.

She represented Julian Assange - before she got married. I'd say that pushed her into prominence.

To say obesity is an outcome of poverty is rather ill-advised, but I think you know that. It is more of a problem in low income households, but it is still an issue many other UK families. If people are educated and happy, they will be less likely to lie on their couches stuffing their faces with donuts. I do think we have gone too far in apologising for obesity; it's a problem. It's not helpful to ignore it.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/children/11650427/Parents-getting-childhood-obesity-terribly-wrong.html

PS - I'm sitting in First Class on Virgin Trains. I don't think many of the people around me would describe themselves as living in poverty.

nope. Affluent area, still i would say in most classes more problem fat than problem thin

Many thin people eat plenty- I think assuming thin people are hungry and depriving themselves, or on drugs is very misguided. I eat loads, including cheese, nuts and bakery everyday and am a 6/8. I do run a lot which does mean I burn it off. I just eat healthily so that I can run well and feel good, not to look a particular way.

I liked Tina Fey's comment at the Golden Globes: George Clooney married Amal Alamuddin this year. Amal is a human rights lawyer who worked on the Enron case, was an advisor to Kofi Annan regarding Syria and was selected for a three person U.N. commission investigating rules of war violations in the Gaza Strip. So tonight her husband is getting a lifetime achievement award.

Olly, I wasn't accusing you of taking drugs to stay thin. And I wasn't talking about 'naturally slim/skinny' people.

I was talking about celebrities, models and actresses who in the main feel they have to be underweight, even if it's not their natural body size, and will do anything to achieve it.

I was talking about why they, and millions of girls and women, feel the same. The pressure to be unnaturally skinny.

If I was an Editor, I would ban pictures of unnaturally stick thin women (like VB) or show them as a bad example.

I liked Tina Fey's comment at the Golden Globes: George Clooney married Amal Alamuddin this year. Amal is a human rights lawyer who worked on the Enron case, was an advisor to Kofi Annan regarding Syria and was selected for a three person U.N. commission investigating rules of war violations in the Gaza Strip. So tonight her husband is getting a lifetime achievement award.

Good post, Trib - all these achievements and we're obsessing about her weight....

Sticks - you would ban photos of Victoria Beckham, and I presume Amal Clooney, because their weight offends you? Two tremendous role models who have contributed and achieved so much? Geez.

sticks if you were an editor you'd be better off banning articles discussing women's bodies and concentrating on women's achievements, rather than a ban on photos of thin women.

Amal very definitely took George's name after marriage - this is not a case of the media misappropriating anything and / or deciding for her.

There was a lot of debate / criticism at the time.

Actually, I will defend my post as OP

Images of extremely thin women wield extreme influence over women in our culture. Famous women are victims of, and perpetrators of this influence.

anorexia is on the increase

Some studies assert that eating disorders have the highest rate of death of any psychiatric condition.

So no, this powerful, vulnerable woman's weight is not irrelevant. Every photograph she wears makes someone a lot of money, as do the decisions of Kate Middleton.

I don't like slebshaming but there is an issue with images of extremely slender women clearly influencing our youngest girls. I have a daughter and I'd rather she was influenced by Almuddin's academic achievements than her low BMI. There is misogyny in the air when the most photographed women and their size and the influence of their size on other women is a taboo subject.

She is a public figure now, she knew that when she married Needy George or Nespresso Clooney.

It is a valid post imo and don't then be hypocritical and try to shame me for exercising ummm oh yes, what is that thing again? Free speech?

And of course, I would like to be much slimmer, all hail you slim women, I was once one of you. I also smoked like a chimney and had no appetite.
The envy I feel of slimmer women is one thing. What I feel about a skeletal frame is not even. I have been very close to two women with eating disorders. One I shared a room with for a year and another I was very close to. I have not seen anything as dark as the deep grimness of anorexia other than heroin addiction.
So it is a very serious subject and people with daughters are right to worry about the role models our girls will soon be looking at to imitate.

nigel the pesky thing about free speech is that it goes both ways...

Of course it does! It's just the sanctimony of tone that irritates. So many posts make me think 'at least make a show of self-reflection'.

But I had the kind of education that taught me to at least try to look around a subject and see different sides.

Public figures are powerful and influential, they can't be protected as much as private individuals, particularly if they use the image for influence, whether I like their influence or not. Whether I want the Elgin marbles to go home or not. How she looks and how many women like her look, is being imprinted on young retina again and again. It is important to have places we can talk about these things imo.

Btw, not wishing to be too dark on a Sleb Twaddle thread, but I've just started reading Portia di Rossi's account of anorexia and it is worth a read, if a horrifying one.

After reading the first few posts I went and had a Google. She is definitely anorexic - not naturally skinny. Such a dramatic weight loss.

I just had a Google and she looks normal to me.

Just looked at photos of her on July 4th celebrations. She looks incredibly healthy for someone you all suspect is starving herself.

She's a beautiful, clever woman. Stop trying to find fault with her.

Olly she does indeed look healthy in the recent photos.