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.

But when people are talking about small frames & child like it's not just the small waist, it's the other proportions. Salma Hayek & Kate Middleton probably have similar waist sizes but their shapes & height are very different.

People are now photoshopping their heads to be smaller, that's the latest desirable trait.

So if there is discrimination in one context, it's fine to exclude people in another?

I recently had bariatric surgery and one of the nurses claimed that it was a big thing in Hollywood. Actresses who were slim already would have the surgery (a gastric sleeve) to maintain their weight with tiny portions.

Although essentially it would mean they'd no longer be permanently hungry because your stomach is made purposely smaller so you get very full very quickly.

Whenever I see famous people walking around I'm always amazed by how much shorter they are than I'd imagined. Amy Winehouse in particular struck me as being tiny - and this was before she was that famous so pre the drugs and alcohol really took hold.

It's the television camera that adds 10lbs. I was on TV a few times when I was young and v skinny and I nearly died when I saw myself, I looked so much bigger. I wonder if k middy (thanks to whoever called her that, it made me laugh) works at being thin or if she is naturally like that.

I have a small frame, when DH chose an engagement ring the jeweller asked my ring size & then asked my height. He was convinced DH was wrong so I couldn't wear my ring for a bit till it was resized. I didn't feel bodyshamed but I do eat crisps often on the sofa.

Imagine if the cast of Friends had reappeared as a size 12 /14 (GASP) with a bit of post menopausal excess. No chance.
Maybe just maybe they've a small appetite and don't like grease foods.
I hate stodgy greased foods, takeaway food is rank excluding a nice Indian takeaway.
I love healthy light food.
They'd no problem turning up with a wrecked face.
Even when you re-watch friends both Rachel and Monica had beautiful defined muscle on their arms legs and stomach they're 5ft 3 a size 12/14 is very overweight for 5ft3.
It isn't possible to build that muscle while starving.
Ross didn't arrive with a beer belly or hadn't ruined his face he stayed the same no querying his dad bod.
Ronan keatings wife photo on the beach shocking as she is tall.
5.3 size 6 is fine if regularly in the gym.
Most of my size 6 friends from years ago are now an 8/10... 20 years later.

@HeadNorth

Women who are short and slim is a valid body type for a women.

Thank you. It does not mean you are androgynous or look like a child - that is a very western-centric, narrow lens to view women's bodies through. Women come in all shapes and sizes and there is absolutely nothing wrong, or childlike, in being small. We've been called 'munchkins' on this thread, for goodness sake - how disrespectful is that?

I know. They're only 'discussing famous people', but there is an undercurrent of insulting anyone who doesn't fit the current Caucasian norm. Complete lack of awareness. And again, the language used just sounds bitchy and does not do the valid issue any favours.

Some pp on here seem to be taking great offence at the idea that a lot of celebrities might have to eat, (not eat) or behave certain way to achieve their very thin figure.
It is possible to be very petite naturally as several posters say they are. However its definitely not possible that this is the natural shape and figure for all female celebrities. (Or women in general)

Several posters have first hand experience of what it's like in that industry and detail the lengths some (not all) women need to go to to achieve a size 4 or 0 or whatever their aim is.It definitely isnt healthy for all of them.

"there is an undercurrent of insulting anyone who doesn't fit the current Caucasian norm"

The celebs under discussion have been caucasian. So they've been comparing them to their own norms. The discussion has been all about disproportionate body types, hence use of language such as lollipops.

I agree with a pp that some must have bariatric surgery when already what we could consider to be a 'normal' weight. I think I remember Nicole Richie did.

They're only 'discussing famous people', but there is an undercurrent of insulting anyone who doesn't fit the current Caucasian norm. Complete lack of awareness.

I specifically mentioned western ideals at some point yesterday as depriving yourself of food is more prevalent in western countries. The cousin I spoke about who wanted to gain weight is mixed heritage & in her culture thin is not so desirable.

I often look at people such as The Rock, Hugh Jackman etc and wonder how they actually look like in real life. Perhaps the rock just looks bigger than everyone else because the others are so tiny? If you saw Hugh Jackman in a shop would he be actually just a really tiny framed man? Jack black is probably slimmer than the average Brit? It's really hard to judge when everyone is so teeny on screen.

People don't reach their full height and size, discover they're naturally small framed with little body fat and think 'oh I know, why don't I become an actor/singer/general all-round celebrity? I'm just the right body type.' It seems a reasonable assumption that many of them are pushing their bodies beyond their natural limits to achieve a standard which appears to have become the norm in those industries. Money and fame are powerful incentives.

@Kljnmw3459

I often look at people such as The Rock, Hugh Jackman etc and wonder how they actually look like in real life. Perhaps the rock just looks bigger than everyone else because the others are so tiny? If you saw Hugh Jackman in a shop would he be actually just a really tiny framed man? Jack black is probably slimmer than the average Brit? It's really hard to judge when everyone is so teeny on screen.

I had thought Mark Whalberg was tall and very muscled until I saw that film he did with The Rock and he looks tiny every time they are stood together.

I found I could eat what I wanted up until a certain age, doesn’t age play a part too?

Wow its worrying if these women have to confirm to this size and the pressure they must feel. When we see them put on weight and they are on front covers it makes you wonder whether they are just normal sized. I remember Denise van outen, clare from steps, jesy from little mix have all had weight issues but look tiny now. Even Holly Willoughby used to be more curvaceous in a healthy way.

@Kljnmw3459

I often look at people such as The Rock, Hugh Jackman etc and wonder how they actually look like in real life. Perhaps the rock just looks bigger than everyone else because the others are so tiny? If you saw Hugh Jackman in a shop would he be actually just a really tiny framed man? Jack black is probably slimmer than the average Brit? It's really hard to judge when everyone is so teeny on screen.

Hugh Jackman is 6'3 so very much not tiny!

they're 5ft 3 a size 12/14 is very overweight

Utter, utter bollocks,

A woman in her 50's will gain roundness, plumpness, weight sometimes
She will not be a size 4.

There no way in a million years that image will be on our screens.

( with one or two exeptions which are all over the press ....Kate W and her tummy)

@MoonriseKingdom Mark W is only 5'8. The Rock is 6'5 in height and probably 5'2 in width!!

When I was young and very very slim in the early 80s, there was no size 8, the smallest was a 10 and that was that. (Even then there was vanity sizing as a ten was supposed to be for measurements 32-22-32, a 12 was 34-24-34, yet I had a 24" waist and 10s were enormous on me.)

For people like me who had that problem the only affordable alternative at the time was to buy children's clothes. This, as Victoria Wood pointed out, meant you saved on the VAT. However I found they didn't fit either as they were not cut for a womanly shape, ie the waist was the same size as the hips.

Therefore I don't find the comparison to a children's size insulting. Been there done that!

@KillingMeHardly that explains it

BalloonSlayer

I was a teenager in the 80's and my waist is only 24/25 inches now so god knows what it was back then. I never bought children's clothes, I went to Chelsea Girl, C&A, Dorothy Perkins, Miss Selfridge and seemingly bought clothes. I honestly don't recall it being a huge problem. I would have been 32-23-33 something like that.

@OutComeTheWolves

If anyone has read the Lily Allen biography, she details there the pressure to be slim including a treatment where they basically put you to sleep for a few days before a big event so you don't eat!

That's pure Valley of the Dolls.

@HollowTalk Valley of the Dolls indeed. And if you read about say, Judy Garland, it's quite horrific - the studio apparently gave her appetite suppressants to make sure she didn't put on weight, amphetamines so she could stay awake to make the numerous films her contract demanded, and then sleeping tablets to counter the effects of the amphetamines. Is it any wonder she developed an addiction and died of an overdose?

It isn't possible to build that muscle while starving

If you have very little body fat your muscle definition will be clear, even if you’ve never picked up anything heavier than a shopping bag.

That James smith PT bloke recently posted on facebook about women’s goals of a 6 pack. Women having visible abs, for most (not all), is only sustainable short term as women’s body fat % should be higher than men to maintain normal menstrual function etc.