Are most actresses very very slim in real life?

[Mitford1789]

I saw a well known actress a few days ago, standing behind her in the queue for a coffee. She was dressed down, however was clearly very pretty in person. However I was taken aback by how slim she was. I would say she was slightly taller than average, not a tiny person if you know what I mean. But so so slim. Do you think most famous actresses/singers etc are like this? Maybe I’m very naive.

*done away

@Serpenta

I think Victoria's Secret have now down away with their (in)famous fashion show. It always seemed like some naff throwback to the days when Miss World was considered top notch TV entertainment.

Fair enough, so not back after Covid?

The last video I saw was a model falling down and crying because she was so happy to be accepted as an ‘angel’. Must be more than money for that reaction I reckon

I boggle at how Victoria Secret which is pretty shoddy underwear managed to convince models to undergo this regime and see it as a big success

I’ve wondered about this too. I concluded that the originators and backers of the VS shows (all men, just fancy that! And some of them having behaved in a questionable way towards the models, just fancy that etc) did such a good job of presenting the VS knicker show as the most prestigious modelling gig ever, transforming the model into the apotheosis of desirable womanhood and making her career, that the models were convinced by their agents that they would be fools not to? Because of the potential future calendar sales and so on.

Then the models feel as if they have to go along with the madness. That regime sounds awful!

@SpeedRunParent I agree with that, her legs are impossibly long!
No one looks like that naturally.

No properly cancelled rather than covid cancelled. There'd been rising criticism of it but the ratings for the show had been on the slide and it hadn't been boosting actual knicker sales so I think it was down to that more than anything.

Agree @EmeraldShamrock.

It's such an important issue, but until people start to use better language to discuss the issue, rather than 'tiny' in front of perfectly normal dress sizes, or describe slim women with child like body, or justify lollipop head as a description of a women it just brings the wrong tone to the discussion.

Plus, something is driving this, people worship at the 'celeb' altar.

Lots of jobs require self discipline I'm sure they'll bulk up in retirement.
Older celebrity females of a certain age are far fitter than the average woman their age therefore eating little and often must work.

Self discipline is taken to a whole new level though - see the pps description of the Victoria's secret models pre show regime. That can not in any way be described as healthy or shrugged off as self discipline. ED (or even if not fully diagnosed, but very restrictive eating) can and does cause a lot of health problems, both psychological and physical.
Osteoporosis, for example, wont neccessarily be reversed by "bulking up " to a size 8 in retirement.
And psychological issues around food can't simply be "switched off".

The lady who plays Audrey Roberts once came into the shop I worked in as a teen to return clothes. She was returning size 8s as they were too big and swapping for size 6, she really was tiny. This was a good 15 years ago now

@CorianderBee

You wouldn't have been a size 8 in the 70's though. Probably a 10 if not a 12.

I weigh the same now as I did at 16, 45 years ago.
I wouldn't get in my old clothes though because I'm flabbier and my shape has changed.

@reallyreallyborednow

Yep. I’m sure I read somewhere the average BMI in hollywood is 17-19.

I remember some actress talking about how she managed her weight. She alternated days between 1200 and 1400 calories.

My BMI is 18. I don't diet. I'm just naturally thin, I had a baby last year but just went back to my size naturally. There's an awful lot of people saying this size isn't normal. Whilst I appreciate what they mean might be the average weight is higher - my body is also normal. I'm completely healthy.

A few years ago, Yolanda Foster, who should have known better, was beside herself with joy when her daughter Gigi was accepted as a VS model. I was horrified to see a mother pushing her daughter into one of the most insidious professions around. I believe a second daughter has followed her. Meanwhile Yolanda is divorced and Mr F is on to his 5th? Youngish actress/model wife. Very odd culture perpetrated upon women by Hollywood, distorted values celebrated and Harvey Weinstein and his mates calling the shots celebrating child-women. Horrible and profoundly misogynistic.

Yes. Sadly the film industry is still incredibly fatphobic

There's an awful lot of people saying this size isn't normal.

It's a perfectly acceptable healthy weight. It's only not 'normal' because the norm for adults in the UK is overweight or obese.

Jockies have a punishing regime to maintain weight for racing, at least as tough as any Victoria's Secret model. Sportspeople have to be super disciplined with their eating and training to make it to the top. I really don't see the problem. As the 80s show said - Fame costs. To be a success in any sphere requires discipline and sacrifice. For celebrities the rewards are also often great. These are adults making choices, I don't see the need for hand wringing.

@HeadNorth

Jockies have a punishing regime to maintain weight for racing, at least as tough as any Victoria's Secret model. Sportspeople have to be super disciplined with their eating and training to make it to the top. I really don't see the problem. As the 80s show said - Fame costs. To be a success in any sphere requires discipline and sacrifice. For celebrities the rewards are also often great. These are adults making choices, I don't see the need for hand wringing.

No, there’s no difference. All those celebrity jockey magazines aimed at young men have no impact whatsoever.

Well, I don’t think skinny celebs are having much impact when young people are getting fatter and fatter. This generation may have a shorter lifespan than their parents and that is not due to being too thin / quite the opposite.

There's an awful lot of people saying this size isn't normal

No, what people are saying is that for the majority it isn’t normal. As always weight is a spectrum and you will get some naturally very thin people, but they will be outliers on the curve.

In hollywood though the majority are on this low end of “normal”. The pressure is to be on that level, whether it is natural or not. So while one or two may sustain that body shape naturally, the rest will be dieting and overtraining to get there, which is not normal “for them”.

We see it when perfectly normal young girls get famous and suddenly lose a lot of weight- Madonna, Kate, Geri Halliwell, etc

Well, I don’t think skinny celebs are having much impact when young people are getting fatter and fatter

Possibly because their body shapes are unachievable for most? Or that trying to achieve it to to disordered eating and yoyo dieting, well recognised for leading to weight gain?

I have a friend who had a very glamorous job in the 90s and saw a lot of supermodels in the flesh, and always swore that the only one who actually resembled an actual human (albeit a spectacularly beautiful one) was Claudia Schiffer. All the others, however fabulously they photographed or came across on the screen apparently were either emaciated or freakishly out of proportion in some way or other.

Kirsty Allsop is not a size 10! She's about an 18.

I've met a lot of women mentioned on this thread and I didn't find them 'teeny tiny'. Slim yes but not "tiny'. Nigella is quite a big robust lady. Lovely shape but certainly no less than a 14. Kylie looks like a plastic doll though - she's more like Dolly Parton now. It's quite horrifying. Kelly Brook was pretty sturdy too. Very nice but huge knockers.

They all seriously restrict their food, exercise like buggery, have cosmetic surgery and a lot of them take drugs.

I'm often shocked at how bad some of them look. Lighting and make up makes the world of difference.

@JinglingHellsBells

No.

Emma Thompson and Judi Dench are not tiny. Neither is Kate Winslett.

Judi Dench is 86!

It’s terrifying that Adriana Lima, looks fit and healthy ( and probably is) despite not eating proper food for weeks then. Goes to show what is required and possible
I googled Storm Keating in Portugal. She’s been in hospital I think. I don’t think it’s fair to comment. It’s a beach photo not a catwalk or a film. Ill people are allowed to go to the beach too. If she was saying she was eating normally or that’s her healthy weight though I’d take issue.

Jockies have a punishing regime to maintain weight for racing, at least as tough as any Victoria's Secret model. Sportspeople have to be super disciplined with their eating and training to make it to the top. I really don't see the problem.

Eating disorders, drug and alcohol addiction, depression and early onset osteoporosis- including the men- are absolutely rife among jockeys. Many of them now talk about the mental effects of trying to do low weights. Things are a bit better for them now with good nutritionists but it's still hard going. I think they are tested for diuretics, laxatives and appetite suppressants (Michelle Payne, the Melboune Cup winning jockey, got a ban for using the latter) and American racecourses have done away with the sick bowls in the weighing room but I'm sure it all still goes on. I read an article quoting Dr Adrian McGoldrick, the Irish racing medical officer, saying that some retired American jockeys he spoke to didn't even have to put their fingers down their throat- they could eat dinner then just stand over the toilet and throw it all up again at will because they were conditioned to do it.

I am petite slim female size 6 some of the comments are horrible.

How tall are you? What comments do you find horrible? If your short you probably look great as a size 6, that doesn't mean someone who's 6ft will or should be pressured into that size.

As humans we were lucky to have one meal, my parents had one meal daily 50 years ago in a WC society now people eat 4 meals daily.

4 meals daily?

No one should have to starve but the vegan nutrition bits they do eat would maintain a person however all in all woman shouldn't be forced to starve for work.

Why do you keep bringing up veganism?