14 DAY TRIAL // Celebrities are supposed to look not just good, but utterly stunning, at all times: that’s a given, at least as far as mainstream media is concerned. Because of this, female stars are constantly under the spotlight, where every inch of their body is analyzed, and then pitted against absurd, but attainable, standards. Gerard Butler, having unveiled a plumper body while vacationing in Barbados, broke the mold on that one, Gawker writes.
Though he repeatedly denied that his looks in “300” were a reflection of his lifestyle, Gerard Butler was always seen by the media as the fit, athletic type that worked out on a regular basis and for whom a belly and “moobs” were as hideous as bodily hair for a woman. Recently surfaced paparazzi shots of him on vacation showed to the entire world that Butler was a long way from his famous six-pack in the aforementioned movie. At the same time, they also came to put an end to Hollywood’s beauty double standards.
That is not to say, though, that women will no longer receive this harsh treatment in the media whenever they happen to put on an extra pound. On the contrary, it means that men are also starting to be subjected to the same kind of treatment, meaning, that they have to look good at all times, no matter what. Case in point: Gerard Butler on vacation, with a belly and a plumper figure.
“Paparazzi pictures of ‘300’ stud Gerard Butler looking all fat in Barbados have everyone in a tizzy. Finally it seems male celebrities will be held to the same impossible body standards as their female counterparts. […] For so many years Hollywood’s leading men, even of the leading and romantic varieties, have been allowed to fall into a state of disrepair after first seducing fans with their svelte physiques. Just look at Russell Crowe, Luke Wilson, and Vince Vaughn. This was acceptable behavior, to get all big and bloated and still play men who women fawn all over in the movies. It seems like Fatty Butler is putting this to rest,” Gawker writes.
Unfortunately, this is not a joke, as headlines from around the world can prove. “‘From Spartan to softie: Gerard Butler packs on the holiday pounds and shows off his new beach body,’ the headline in the New York Daily News reads. ‘Gerard Butler packs some paunch on his Barbados holiday as his Spartan muscles become a distant memory,’ says the UK’s Daily Mail. […] These are the types of headlines usually reserved for female celebs like the Olsen twins, who are a constant source of speculation for being either too fat or dangerously thin. Jessica Simpson, who got the ‘Fat Jessica: Still Hot?’ treatment when she gained a couple pounds last year. Britney Spears is only in the tabs’ good graces now that she has lost the weight from her Video Music Awards debacle in 2007,” the same Gawker report goes on to say.
Of course, the fact that Gerard Butler was on his own spare time and that the paparazzi shots were most likely taken without his permission seems to matter little. It’s Gerard 0, the tabs 1 in the battle of the public image. Fans, though, will always know how to appreciate a star for what that star does and not for how they look on their personal time (be they male or female), one can only hope.