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.

She said that when she approached clothes shops or market stalls in Vietnam, the vendors would shoo her away as they simply had nothing available that could possibly fit her!

Ha, my friend lived in Vietnam for a bit & needed shorts. The vendor was shaking her head & making arm gestures & blowing out her cheeks that she was way too big. My friend persevered & managed to get a pair of shorts to try on & they fit no problem.

The MN version of a 1980s NY gang dance off would be a weight/diet/bmi/height/waist size thread

@dorangme

She said that when she approached clothes shops or market stalls in Vietnam, the vendors would shoo her away as they simply had nothing available that could possibly fit her!

Ha, my friend lived in Vietnam for a bit & needed shorts. The vendor was shaking her head & making arm gestures & blowing out her cheeks that she was way too big. My friend persevered & managed to get a pair of shorts to try on & they fit no problem.

Yes I remember being shooed away from clothes shops in Bangkok when I was an 18 yr old backpacker. I weighed 48kg and was a size 8. I was not fat! I did have big boobs and a bum though, which I think looks fleshy compared to most Thai women.

I’m on the side of “this was meant to be about celebrities” and that starving does not equate to naturally slim and that there’s a lot of unnaturally slim looking people in the media.

@Changechangychange it's weird maybe they just assume stuff won't fit. My friend said the vendor didn't even react when she came out of the fitting room showing that the shorts did fit. She just said the price.

I’m on the side of “this was meant to be about celebrities” and that starving does not equate to naturally slim and that there’s a lot of unnaturally slim looking people in the media.

The thread is 35 pages long, it's totally natural to meander from the original topic onto slants taken from real life that are still relevant. Not sure 35 pages of every poster saying - I've seen so and so in the flesh and they look like they've come straight from the set of The Borrowers - would make particularly riveting reading.

Jessica Alba also looks much smaller than her daughter when she dances with her on her TikTok.

Didn't watch the video but the snap shots show Jessica as looking healthy? Not sure on the bikini though!

That's the thing @Iceniii images are often hard to judge but seeing her next to her daughter who I think is 12 and she suddenly looks teeny.

She was always teeny tho. She's only about 5ft 1 I think. There are some mini people, like Kylie who are just petite and everything is in proportion. Yes I'm sure she exercises and watches what she eats also.

I was looking at a brown bikini one. Tbh images and films are so contrived now, it's hard to tell what is real.

I thought Jessica Alba was about 5.5? She's definitely taller than Reece Witherspoon who is petite.

Oh, I could be wrong so. I had her in the mini brigade. (I'm 5ft2 myself so no denigration here!)

She’s 169cm according to google. Teens often fill out & then grow in my experience.

The girl in that picture doesn't look particularly "filled out" though?

I know some women are very slim naturally, but it is obvious that the acting and music industries put female stars under pressure to maintain a weight that would only be healthy for an absolutely tiny proportion of women. The vast majority of these actresses/singers etc. are not at their healthiest weight. Male celebrities tend to look slim and healthy, not ultra slim like female stars.

Portraying extremely slim women as the norm also encourage body dysmorphia among women more generally, and by extension distorting eating. Disordered eating doesn't necessarily manifest as anorexia, it can include bingeing, unhealthy obsessions with food and weight, associating size/dietary habits with self worth etc.

I'm a healthy BMI, but I obsess about food more than I should. Even though I am healthy and generally eat healthily, the insidious effect of the messages I receive from society about weight mean that my relationship with food isn't that great overall. I bet that's something that most women can relate to. My female friends think and talk about food far more than my male friends. Because women are taught to associate a whole host of emotions and moral judgements with our size and what we eat. It's not as simple as saying "healthy BMI = healthy relationship with food", because I don't think that's true at all.

@BeenAsFarAsMercyAndGrand that’s a very sensible and true post. I agree with you

I think 'tiny' is often used the same way as 'stunning ' or beautiful' on sm: hyperbolic and pretty meaningless.

I get called tiny, if I say I need to cut down/ lose weight. I am 5'9. I wear size 12. In heels, I tower over most people.I have spent my whole life feeling at best statuesque, at worst, gigantic.

Now, back to celebs. I'm not a royal watcher, but I Kate Middleton was on the news last night and she looked way too thin.

I always think Emma Bunton always looks a really 'normal', healthy size and really great. Maybe in real life she is also super teeny though...

Kate Middleton looks very slim (but acceptably so) when she wears more flared and shorter style clothes (such as the outfit she wore for the G7 Summit reception yesterday evening). It's when she wears very fitted midi/maxi length frocks that she looks over thin.

Yes, I thought the white dress was actually quite a clever way of making her look normally slim, whereas the red dress made her look thin.

It's not as simple as saying "healthy BMI = healthy relationship with food", because I don't think that's true at all.

I definitely think this is true but also "low BMI doesnt always equate to unhealthy"

A lot of PP claim to be size 4 or 6 and super fit and healthy, eat well, and that's their natural size. Fine. I know some people who have a naturally small frame and have a fairly low bmi and eat well but struggle to put weight on. Of course there are people like this, but they are in the minority.although most seem to be on MN

Some actresses, singers or famous celebrities might have the body type that is naturally very slight....but the chances are that, like 95% of the rest of the population, most of them don't....but they are somehow expected to conform to a BMI of 18 whether that's their natural weight or shape, or not.

Even though it's a fairly blunt instrument, and doesnt always allow for muscle etc, BMI shows range of weight considered healthy because people are not built the same.

@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!

Sounds like the Valley of the Dolls if anyone has read it, it's quite an old book by Jacqueline Suzanne. Shows that nothing has changed since the 60's!

I find the same with male TV bods too. Always short and tiny of frame. But I've not met The Rock etc.

I'm pretty sure the sleep cure from Valley of the Dolls is fictional. I've googled the heck out of it. If it's possible to be put to sleep to lose weight, why isn't it known about?

I wouldn't consider Lily Allen a cast iron reliable source of information.