Ariana Grande hopes that by being open and susceptible about her physique some good would possibly come from it.
On Tuesday, the “thank u, next” singer took to TikTok to discuss feedback she has obtained about her look.
“I just wanted to address your concerns about my body and talk a little bit about what it means to be a person with a body and to be seen and to be paid such close attention to,” she shared. “I think we could be, I think we should be, gentler and less comfortable commenting on people’s bodies, no matter what — if you think you’re saying something good or well-intentioned, whatever it is, healthy, unhealthy, big, small, this, that, sexy, nonsense — we just should really work towards not doing that as much.”
Grande, who’s presently filming the upcoming Wicked film, defined that whereas many individuals have criticized her for being “unhealthy” at a smaller dimension, “there are many different kinds of beautiful and there are many different ways to look healthy and beautiful.”
“I know personally, for me, the body that you’ve been comparing my current body to was the unhealthiest version of my body,” she continued. “I was on a lot of antidepressants and drinking on them and eating poorly. And at the lowest point of my life when I looked the way you consider my ‘healthy,’ that in fact wasn’t my healthy.”
The Nickelodeon alum additionally identified that even feedback meant to be complimentary aren’t best since you “never know what someone is going through.”
“Even if you are coming from a loving place and a caring place, that person probably is working on it or has a support system that they are working on it with and you never know,” she stated. “So be gentle with each other and with yourselves.”
Grande pleading with followers to rethink how our bodies are talked about speaks to a bigger societal challenge. As Janet Lydecker, professor of psychiatry on the Yale School of Medicine, beforehand instructed Yahoo Life: “Just the preoccupation that Americans have with weight, and with weight being part of attractiveness, and a source of power, particularly, but not exclusively for women, there’s a lot of pressure that we all feel in this culture to manipulate our bodies.”
Grande isn’t any stranger to addressing feedback made about her physique. Back in 2015, after being known as a “stick,” she wrote that shaming statements about anybody will not be OK. “We live in a day and age where people make it IMPOSSIBLE for women, men, anyone to embrace themselves exactly how they are. Diversity is sexy! Loving yourself is sexy!” Grande shared, “You know what is NOT sexy? Misogyny, objectifying, labeling, comparing and body shaming!!! Talking about people’s body’s as if they’re on display ASKING for your approval / opinion. THEY ARE NOT!!!! CELEBRATE YOURSELF. CELEBRATE OTHERS.”
In 2018, she also responded to a Facebook commenter who attacked her performance in her “Dangerous Woman” music video as too salacious.
“When will folks cease being offended by ladies displaying pores and skin / expressing sexuality?” Grande questioned at the time. “Men take their shirts off / categorical their sexuality on stage, in movies, on Instagram, wherever they need to… all. the. time. The double normal is so boring and exhausting. With all due respect, I feel it is time you get your head out of your ass. Women can love their our bodies too.”
If you or somebody you already know is scuffling with an consuming dysfunction, name the National Eating Disorders Association hotline at 1-800-931-2237.
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