Canadian celebrities talk body image
‘We need to change the way we speak to girls’
Jennifer Lawrence has been outspoken about the intense pressure women face in Hollywood over weight and body image but last week she did an about face and said she generally shrugs it off.
The actress added that she would be “interested to hear” the opinion of someone who is “not in two franchises” (Lawrence stars in the Hunger Games and X-Men films).
So we asked some Canadian female celebrities what they thought. Jessi Cruickshank, host, Canada’s
Smartest Person (CBC): “I’ve never been given a job on television because of how I look. I have always been reliant on my sense of humour and personality, which gives me a much greater sense of self-worth than if I felt I needed to look a certain way to work in this industry. As a result, I have a very healthy body image ... which doesn’t mean I won’t fulfil my lifelong dream of eating pizza every day when I finally leave the business!” Michelle Nolden, actor, Saving Hope
(CTV): “My job is to play real people and people come in all shapes and sizes. In my experience, the more people are interested in the authenticity of the characters I play the less concerned they are with how much I weigh.” Tara Spencer-Nairn, actor (Corner
Gas): “Jennifer Lawrence hit the nail on the head. The last time I had an issue with my weight, I was living in the States. That was the only time I was asked to lose weight. The difference was I wasn’t taking care of myself. There’s a difference between being a size 6 and being healthy and being a size 6 and partying every night. We need to change the way we speak to girls. It’s about taking care of your body. Do I think the industry set a precedent? I do. But I’ve never felt any pressure in Canada to have to look a certain way. In a weird way I want to defend the industry because any pressure that I’ve felt, I think, has been society.” Madeleine Bisson (Bang Bang Baby,
Foxfire): “I’m a size 0 and even I have been cast as the ‘curvy girl.’ I look forward to the day when the film industry celebrates all shapes and sizes of the female body.”
Kathryn Bisland, Toronto dancer: “I promised myself that when I graduated university I was going to seriously pursue becoming an actor, but that never happened in the capacity that I wanted it to because I felt I was too fat and held myself back. Now I am in a position where I have the body that I want, but the problem is looking too old. I had a moment about 6 months ago: I caught myself in the mirror mid-conversation and panicked over what I thought was an abnormal amount of wrinkles on my forehead. The reality is, I had somehow come to view a Botoxed forehead as ‘normal’ because I see it so much. I meditate and move on because I am doing what I love so somebody must be digging my crazily expressive forehead!”