“I resent being made to feel “less than” because my body is changing and/or I had a burger for lunch and was photographed from a weird angle and therefore deemed one of two things: “pregnant” or ‘fat, ‘” she continued in a blog post on The Huffington Post. So when she lambasts that same media for propagating “the message that girls are not pretty unless they’re incredibly thin, that they’re not worthy of our attention unless they look like a supermodel or an actress on the cover of a magazine”, well that’s a message she has personally helped sell.
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Aniston wants to occupy the moral high ground here, but you can’t contribute to the objectification of women for 25 years and then complain about the objectification of women in the celebrity tabloid media.
The star’s words have earned her plenty of praise online, with celebs like Cheryl tweeting their support.
She added, “It’s a ridiculous thing”. “Particularly with women and people of color. tell me it’s just for clicks??”
Jason Bateman, who appeared with Jennifer in Horrible Bosses and The Switch, also offered his support.
Several other stars also gave the essay the thumbs up. “The sheer amount of resources being spent right now by press trying to simply uncover whether or not I am pregnant (for the bajillionth time… but who’s counting) points to the perpetuation of this notion that women are somehow incomplete, unsuccessful, or unhappy if they’re not married with children”, she said.
Tabloid journalist and former CNN host Piers Morgan has responded with a column in Britain’s Daily Mail in which he calls out Aniston’s stance as hypocritical. Last year, Aniston tried to put the public obsession with her divorce to rest once and for all by telling The Hollywood Reporter, “If the world only could just stop…” We get to decide for ourselves what is lovely when it comes to our bodies. It’s this: female stars like Jennifer Aniston deliberately perpetuate the myth of “perfection” by posing for endless magazine covers which have been airbrushed so much that in some cases the celebrity is virtually unrecognizable, ‘ he further wrote.
Piers acknowledged that “intimidatory or overly-intrusive paparazzi behaviour is never acceptable”.
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Justin Theroux is standing by Jennifer Aniston’s powerful essay against body-shaming.
