14 DAY TRIAL // Kelly Clarkson, as all fans must know, has never quite fit the Hollywood standards of female beauty. Of course, that is not to say that she is fat or unhealthy, just that, being a normal-sized girl has often got her negative press specifically on account of her body. The same is happening now, the only difference being that, this time, women all over the world are speaking against the image bullying the media and the Internet are encouraging.
Kelly recently appeared on two major television shows to perform. And no one (or only too few people) focused on how she sang or on whether she was still as able to carry a tune as she was when she won the first edition of “American Idol” and shot to international fame. Instead, bloggers and journalists ran stories on Kelly’s obvious (or so they said) weight-gain, placing bets on the possibility that she might even be pregnant.
Enough is enough, women all over the world are saying, with Margarita Bertsos of Glamour magazine in the first row. In a society that is obsessed with body image, it’s not a surprise that we still focus on it instead of on what really matters.
As Bertsos says, Kelly took the stage to sing and not to model the latest creation from Karl Lagerfeld, so why are we so fixated on her weight? Whether the star gains some pounds or not is a matter of choice, and the public only has the right to criticize her if she fails us as a singer – which she hasn’t done so far.
“I keep reading headlines in the papers and from fans online speculating – ridiculously – on whether Kelly is pregnant. Why? Because of her curves. Um, am I the only one who thinks her ‘baby bump’ looks more like a big lunch than a set of twins? Her reps have squashed the rumors, of course. But when I read comments on the Web like this one: ‘She’s gotten huge! I just saw her on SNL. Lay off the Twinkies, or you’re going to have a lot of new material about guys breaking up with you,’ I can’t help but sympathize. My two cents on the subject: She’s not on America’s Next Top Model. Her body = her business. Our business? Her music! And I’m no doctor, but I think Kelly’s curves hardly qualify for the nation’s obesity intervention.” Bertsos writes for the aforementioned publication.
Sadly, Kelly’s case is not an isolated one. Just recently, Meghan McCain has also admitted to often being a victim of image-oriented bullying, lashing out against the media for placing too much emphasis on weight than on real values or a woman’s achievements. On the bright side, both Kelly and Meghan have learned to not pay attention to this kind of criticism, having enough self-confidence to know that what matters is only how they feel inside.