In The News
May 12, 2014
30 year-old actress and former “American Horror Story” star, Gabourey Sidibe recently gave a moving and touching speech on confidence at the Gloria Awards and Gala in New York City. Sidibe revealed the demons she fights each time she puts on a dress – the judgements, the headlines, the comparisons – and the surprise she initially felt when reporters would always be shocked at her confidence. How does ‘she’ get away with looing like that in Hollywood? How can someone like ‘her’ be so confident? Sidibe says, “It’s my good time, and my good life, despite what you think of me. I live my life, because I dare. I dare to show up when everyone else might hide their faces and hide their bodies in shame.”
With stars such as Rosie O’Donnell, Star Jones and Randy Jackson speaking candidly about their bariatric surgery, the stigma is slowly fading. Jones had gastric bypass surgery in 2003 but only revealed the truth behind her decision and the procedure in 2007, writing, “The complete truth is, I was scared of what people might think of me. I was afraid to be vulnerable, and ashamed at not being able to get myself under control without this procedure.” Read more about Jones’ journey, how bariatric surgery helped Jackson manage diabetes and O’Donnell’s weight loss here.
Living an active lifestyle and staying healthy is a lifelong journey with many twists and turns. There are no quick fixes and the reality is very different from what magazines and television shows try to sell. Sadly, “Shape” magazine recently exacerbated this gap between media images and weight loss reality when they refused to publish bikini photos of one woman’s weight loss story because the magazine had a policy to only feature “fully clothed” people for that section.
