Every time a new case comes to light, the comedians and late night talks show personalities jump on the bandwagon. The jibes and jokes about celebrities with eating disorders though stretch far beyond this circle of professional satirists. Whatever you think about this satirical open season on certain celebrities, it does seem clear that a lot of celebrities, notably female celebs, find their dieting choices subjected to the dictates of the very same driven personality that enables them to achieve such a celebrated place in their professional craft.
It's common to blame the glitz of the lifestyle and the superficial and sexist attitudes of the general public who consume the mass media images. However, such glib and politically correct assessments too easily gloss over the fact that everything in the lives of successful actors, musicians and other media personalities is colored by the driven personalities that allow them to succeed.
Can it really be surprising then to discover that turning those personality traits to a determination to control their weight would unleash the same kind of obsessive focus? Christina Ricci, in her irreverent way, illustrated this hard driven personality feature of celebrity eating disorders when she remarked to the Guardian newspaper, in 2004, on how her own eating disorder experience began with an odd introspection while watching trash television. "At the time that I was starting to diet and stuff, I saw this TV movie, and I thought, 'Ooh - anorexia. I could probably do that.'"
Other celebrities, for instance, Geri Halliwell of Ginger Spice fame, point out that the real cause of celebrity eating disorders can be found in the challenges of coping with life's usual ups and downs. It's debatable whether or not celebrity contributes to heightened daily stress. When you consider the occupations of many others that seems kind of improbable. But, even if you do believe it, whatever the pressures involved, they don't dictate the specifically chosen coping strategy.
The backlash against the innocent, ironic tweet of the ever entertaining Lady Gaga, from 2012, though is typical of the victimizing machine of the mass media and the self-appointed morals police. Young girls everywhere, it would seem, are in constant danger of the corrupting influence of social expectations. Even Lady Gaga, already on record as encouraging girls to develop a healthier sense of body image, couldn't acknowledge resisting a craving for a cheese burger without the self-appointed busy bodies raising hell. (Whether a cheese burger would actually constitute a healthy meal choice is of course another matter.)
If a celebrity already on record as alerting her young fans to the dangers of eating disorders cannot joke about her own freely chosen dietary deprivations what exactly is going on here? It seems that there is a large, invested concern to deny such celebrities freedom to take responsibility for their own choices. Somehow they have to be treated as victims, presumably so that any admirer of such celebrities can also be easily convinced she too is a victim. But who benefits from this?
The lesson from all this is certainly not to be misconstrued as implying that eating disorders are unique to celebrities. What is true, though, is that in the case of such celebrities, it is valid to regard those disorders as a product of the determination and strength that they already had to draw upon to achieve their professional success. This is not a denial of environmental pressures and stresses, in the end though, celebrity or otherwise, the bulimic or anorectic are making their choices.
And for those who think this assessment is unfair, who would dismiss it as a form of blaming the victim, perhaps you have the whole thing backwards. If the explanation for celebrities with eating disorders really was the mass media and the Hollywood glamour machine, there could be no other solution than to leave Hollywood or working in the media. Yet, there are plenty of success stories in which celebrities were victorious in combating their eating disorders, without needing to retire from their careers. They may have needed a break from the stress of work, but stress reduction is going to be an ingredient in any recovery plan. Rather, what this reveals is that just as the cause of the eating disorders lies in the celebrity, so too lay the solution. This shouldn't be offensive or threatening, it should be a note of encouragement. The news for all those who suffer eating disorders is one of hope: regardless of the difficulties in your own life, you have a secret weapon. That same strength and determination that holds you to the your current strict regime, the very engine of your eating disorder, is likewise there in you, the very same strength and determination, to draw from, when you decide you want to change your life.
If celebrity idolization is somehow mandatory, there are many different kinds of celebrities to idolize. You can choose. And better still, why not be the celebrity of your own life. It's your choice how to live your life; you've already proven the strength and determination of your personality. It's up to you how to use it. You don't need facile excuses about social pressures and mass media indoctrination. Take responsibility for your own life. Be the star of your own story.
It's common to blame the glitz of the lifestyle and the superficial and sexist attitudes of the general public who consume the mass media images. However, such glib and politically correct assessments too easily gloss over the fact that everything in the lives of successful actors, musicians and other media personalities is colored by the driven personalities that allow them to succeed.
Can it really be surprising then to discover that turning those personality traits to a determination to control their weight would unleash the same kind of obsessive focus? Christina Ricci, in her irreverent way, illustrated this hard driven personality feature of celebrity eating disorders when she remarked to the Guardian newspaper, in 2004, on how her own eating disorder experience began with an odd introspection while watching trash television. "At the time that I was starting to diet and stuff, I saw this TV movie, and I thought, 'Ooh - anorexia. I could probably do that.'"
Other celebrities, for instance, Geri Halliwell of Ginger Spice fame, point out that the real cause of celebrity eating disorders can be found in the challenges of coping with life's usual ups and downs. It's debatable whether or not celebrity contributes to heightened daily stress. When you consider the occupations of many others that seems kind of improbable. But, even if you do believe it, whatever the pressures involved, they don't dictate the specifically chosen coping strategy.
The backlash against the innocent, ironic tweet of the ever entertaining Lady Gaga, from 2012, though is typical of the victimizing machine of the mass media and the self-appointed morals police. Young girls everywhere, it would seem, are in constant danger of the corrupting influence of social expectations. Even Lady Gaga, already on record as encouraging girls to develop a healthier sense of body image, couldn't acknowledge resisting a craving for a cheese burger without the self-appointed busy bodies raising hell. (Whether a cheese burger would actually constitute a healthy meal choice is of course another matter.)
If a celebrity already on record as alerting her young fans to the dangers of eating disorders cannot joke about her own freely chosen dietary deprivations what exactly is going on here? It seems that there is a large, invested concern to deny such celebrities freedom to take responsibility for their own choices. Somehow they have to be treated as victims, presumably so that any admirer of such celebrities can also be easily convinced she too is a victim. But who benefits from this?
The lesson from all this is certainly not to be misconstrued as implying that eating disorders are unique to celebrities. What is true, though, is that in the case of such celebrities, it is valid to regard those disorders as a product of the determination and strength that they already had to draw upon to achieve their professional success. This is not a denial of environmental pressures and stresses, in the end though, celebrity or otherwise, the bulimic or anorectic are making their choices.
And for those who think this assessment is unfair, who would dismiss it as a form of blaming the victim, perhaps you have the whole thing backwards. If the explanation for celebrities with eating disorders really was the mass media and the Hollywood glamour machine, there could be no other solution than to leave Hollywood or working in the media. Yet, there are plenty of success stories in which celebrities were victorious in combating their eating disorders, without needing to retire from their careers. They may have needed a break from the stress of work, but stress reduction is going to be an ingredient in any recovery plan. Rather, what this reveals is that just as the cause of the eating disorders lies in the celebrity, so too lay the solution. This shouldn't be offensive or threatening, it should be a note of encouragement. The news for all those who suffer eating disorders is one of hope: regardless of the difficulties in your own life, you have a secret weapon. That same strength and determination that holds you to the your current strict regime, the very engine of your eating disorder, is likewise there in you, the very same strength and determination, to draw from, when you decide you want to change your life.
If celebrity idolization is somehow mandatory, there are many different kinds of celebrities to idolize. You can choose. And better still, why not be the celebrity of your own life. It's your choice how to live your life; you've already proven the strength and determination of your personality. It's up to you how to use it. You don't need facile excuses about social pressures and mass media indoctrination. Take responsibility for your own life. Be the star of your own story.
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