It was one of those rare afternoons when my kids were keeping themselves busy playing and I had time to actually sit down and turn on something that I wanted to watch. I was so happy for this unexpected break as I grabbed a quick snack and reached for the remote. It was Oprah time and I couldn't wait to see what the topic of that day's show was.
As her studio was projected into my living room, I admired Oprah’s shoes and watched her introduce her guest of the day, Portia de Rossi. I listened to de Rossi talk about her new book, "Unbearable Lightness," that outlines her struggle with weight and battle with eating disorders. I stared at my television screen in disbelief as this pretty actress described her feelings of inadequacies and self-loathing. I could hardly imagine that she would limit herself to only eating 300 calories a day which resulted in dropping to a dangerously low weight. At one point, she shared a shameful experience while at a photo shoot. She began to panic when each size 4 outfit that was bought to her didn’t fit. Finally the wardrobe person yelled out in frustration, “No one told me that she was a size 8!” She described it as a most humiliating experience and a huge push towards her downwards spiral. Oprah then commented, “Size 8 is my goal weight.”
The entire episode gave me the urge to read her book--of course, the reason for her show appearance--and made me think about the extremes that people will go to in order to make their bodies the size that they want them to be. It is certainly a topic that deserves our attention.
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Great article!
February 1, 2011 - 9:55amThis Comment