I am sure that most of you know that Jennifer Hudson fresh off her new marriage and baby became the spokes model for Weight-Watchers. Hey what better way to lose those extra pounds after delivering than getting paid to do it right? Well the controversy that started with the photo she did with the cover of her debut album and is continuing with the magazine cover in which she is smaller.
The plus-gallery is now asking this question. Is this multi-talented entertainer, who gripped the heart of the plus community with her Oscar winning performance in Dream Girls looking to become the new size 6 poster child for the success of the Weight-Watchers? Or on the other hand, is she a victim of the sizism in the entertainment industry that still feels it is necessary to retouch photos until the person in the spotlight looks like a caricature of themselves?
I know what some of you are saying right now. Some feel that who cares, if she wants to look the way she does in the photo that’s her right. In one respect you are correct. One the other hand, think of the millions of fans that follow her and the perception of what her new look is saying to these young ladies about their body image.
To the size police out there don’t mistake my words. What I am posing is regardless as to if she has a great testimonial for weight loss or a victim of retouching when it comes to body image don’t women of all ages deserve to see magazine models and entertainers that reflect what they see in the mirror? Is it so much to ask that magazines keep retouching to a minimum? If they are not going to then I think that when you combine things like weight-loss and photo shoots of this manner it should come with the warning “Photo enhanced to create fantasy like illusions of beauty.” Yea right let me wake up from my dream.
Unlike the about face that occurred with Star Jones and Mo’Nique my gut tells me that Jennifer Hudson is a victim of the industry and had little control over what made the cover of that magazine. What do you think? How does she look to you and what are your thoughts on the question; Weight-Watcher Success or Photoshop Failure?
Update: This article was written before I saw the side by side photos below. Call me what you want but I think she looked much healthier in the photo to the right taken in 2007 than she does on the cover of the magazine or in the photo on the left.
I agree with you…it’s fine if she wanted to lose some weight, but I believe she is now too skinny and went to an extreme. While I understand that this weight loss is partially for a movie role, it looks a little too unhealthy to me. She actually looks happier and more like a “real” person in the photo on the right as well!
I think she looks fine in both pic, but I also believe the cover is photshopped. This is an industry that photoshopped Demi Moore. Sadly photoshopping is the status quo right now. I also don’t think Jen looks unhealthy in either pic. She didn’t lose her weight super quickly, I believe she has been on WW for close to a year. I hope she is doing everything the healthy way and remains safe and healthy. She seems like a nice person and I wish her well.
People Jennifer Hudson looks amazing. There is nothing wrong with the weight loss. Her face and her head at fine. She is very healthy and does not have a sick look at all. The tripple threat super star has made a super transformation with her weight loss. Jen has not lost to much weight. This size is very comfortable for the super star. Jennifer is very well with it and she knows not too loose anymore weight. Jhud is problemly one of the most honest out there of her peers. I always thought she was beautiful and fabulous even before the weight loss. Now she is just very gorgeous and hell of flawless. I love her new look and she is wearing it very well.
I think Hudson looks great in both pics. I think the plus community has got to stop taking it so personally when plus sized entertainers lose weight. It’s not like she (Hudson) lost weight in an unhealthy manner. WW is an excellent program that teaches balance and encourages a healthier relationship with food. The bottom line is, Jennifer Hudson’s decision to lose weight was a personal choice, not a conscious betrayal of the plus sized community.
Whether Jennifer is “too small” or not is impossible for me to say (since, you know, I’m not Jennifer, her doctor, or God). She’s small for my personal taste, but that just MY opinion of how she is most beautiful. What is possible for me to say, however, is that the media’s framing of her weight loss is that she is more beautiful now. It creates in many people’s minds–especially young people’s–the idea that getting smaller makes you more beautiful. And that’s just not a truism. Some people look great thin, some people look great fat. Lots of people would say Jennifer looks great both ways. But the constant message from the media that losing weight makes you more attractive is dangerous. And it’s just untrue. If it is being supported by digitally altered photographs, that makes it unnatural and unethical, as well.
Tigress,
You make a fantastic point about “the constant message from the media that losing weight makes you more attractive” it is a perception thing more than anything else. This is one of the situations that the details don’t matter as much as what perception the message has. I agree with you that the media has not done a good job of framing what beauty is and the modeling industry has made it worse with the rampant retouching of photos.