14 DAY TRIAL // Not a stranger to weight struggles, singer and actress Janet Jackson is now speaking out about Hollywood’s obsession with celebrities’ weight, saying the public needs to understand celebrities are “only human” too.
The star, who has often made headlines for either gaining or losing a lot of weight, says she’s now happy in her own body, having discovered she shared a very unhealthy relationship with food.
Still, that doesn’t change the fact that she’s still shocked about how much attention the industry and the public pays to appearance and weight.
“People tend to put entertainers on pedestals. We’re human beings, just like you… whether we have money or not, we still have bills to pay, we still have our stresses,” Janet says in the latest issue of Health magazine.
She knows better than anyone what it’s like to be picked on for her weight – because she was criticized for being heavier when she was younger and had just started working in showbiz.
“When I did Good Times, they used to bind my chest because I was developing breasts at a young age. It immediately makes you think, ‘The way I am isn’t good enough’,” Janet says.
“They thought I was too heavy and that I needed to lose weight. When I look back at the show, I was your average-size kid,” she adds.
As noted above, Janet is not a stranger to weight-related issues, which she detailed in her recent diet and self-esteem book, “True You.”
She started writing it as a book with tips for weight loss and diet but, soon afterwards, she realized she could do more in terms of helping others like her, by talking about the emotional triggers that would make her overeat.
“It was originally about weight loss. But I wanted it to be more about my triggers. I can be an emotional eater. Of late, I have been doing that, yes. It started when I was very little. My brothers were gone on tour a lot, and I would miss them so much. Certain things in my life would become triggers,” Janet said in a Harper’s Bazaar interview dating back to October 2009.
“I wish I’d had a book like this when I was that young. People forget that everyone has things going on. It’s still important to face reality, and not that I’m running, but sometimes you just need to get away for a second,” she added.