I enjoyed a brief flirtation with Glee earlier this year. While it's over now, I still really love the cute young cast and their puppy-like energy and look forward to watching them do other things.
And I really enjoyed watching Lea Michele's well-acted turn as insecure, diva-in-training Rachel. So I was sad to see photos of Lea looking really thin, sunken-eyed, and generally crappy at the Teen Choice Awards recently.
Something's going on here, and whatever it is isn't good. I mean, seriously, look at that photo from 2009, absolutely nothing wrong there. She's talked about being a vegan in the past, and that it gives her energy to play the always-on-edge Rachel. Sometimes, though, people with eating disorders use veganism or other very regimented ways of eating to cover up their disease.
I think that's not the case with Lea Michele, though. I'm guessing that she heard her character referred to as "chunky" a bit too often and decided to do something about it.
Of course, there's nothing chunky about her. The standard Rachel outfit of pleated miniskirts and knee socks looks good on exactly no one, but she looks like a normal young woman. Unfortunately, there's so much pressure to be super-thin in Hollywood that normal, slender women look chunky next to size-zero stick figures.
This has happened before: In the first couple seasons of Friends, Jennifer Aniston was curvy and feminine and maybe even a tiny bit chunky-thighed. Then, most likely bowing to Hollywood standards, she got really thin and buff, and then already super-thin costar Courtney Cox got even skinnier. As a matter of fact, she got skinny to the point of not looking good anymore, just like Michele seems to have done.
And that brings me to my last point: We all have a weight we look best at, and Lea Michele's clearly not there. For one friend, being some pounds below the optimum weight for her height looks just fine on her; she's naturally thin and small boned, and always has been, even though she eats plenty and enjoys food. For me, being about 10 pounds above the optimal weight for my height looks good and balances out my huge head. Thinner isn't always better. When you look just plain unhealthy, it's time to start eating again and acknowledge that size zero isn't for everybody.
What's your best weight?
Image via vagueonthehow/Flickr
