Too Skinny: Fame or fashion?

George Clooney’s wife Amal Clooney seems to have set off an alarming trend of being skinny. While the accomplished lawyer is the new favourite of the paparazzi, her wasting frame can’t be sending out the right message to fans who often blindly follow their role models. Another celebrity who has hit the headlines for the same reason is Queen Letizia of Spain, who recently attended an event wearing a black off-shoulder cocktail dress. And the first thing that everyone questioned was why was she becoming “so thin”?

Closer home too we have actress Sridevi, Nita Ambani or even AP CM’s wife Bhuvaneshwari, sporting much thinner frames. It seems that the skinny look is back with a vengeance, especially among those who are super successful in their careers. Is this something that goes with the brief of being successful in today’s world?

For Amal Clooney, while some say it’s stress, others speculate that it’s the pressure of being under the constant media scanner for being George Clooney’s wife.
Closer home, businesswoman and star wife Upasana Kamineni can relate to Amal Clooney when it comes to following a strict health regime. Upasana says, “For me, skinny is not the right word. Coming from a medical background, it’s healthy and fit. If I’m healthy mentally and physically, then I’ll feel beautiful. Yes, I’m under pressure to look good. But I’m pressurised only because I have to set a great example for people who look up to me and care for me. Weight for me and many others is a life-long battle and I still haven’t made peace with it. But I strongly believe that when I’m in control of my eating and follow a fitness plan I work much better and feel great. My dad and my husband are my greatest inspirations.”

And then come the comments about them “not eating enough”. Rishi Kapoor had recently tweeted about Kangana’s super-thin frame when he met her at an event in Mumbai. “Met Kangana Ranaut and Mandira Bedi at a store launch. Splendid girls these. One more thing. These girls don’t eat. Please do!” But Kangana, who has been battling rumours about starving herself says, “I would never starve myself just because I’m following a certain trend.”

I’m genetically thin. Eating healthy and following a workout regime is one thing but I wouldn’t want people out there to fit into a ‘glam’ image by risking their health.” Kangna’s team also insists that the actress doesn’t follow any unhealthy practices to maintain her weight. “Kangana is very fit. That shouldn’t be misconstrued as just being ‘thin’,” an aide told us.

While one may think about the health hazards, many from the social circuit or the entertainment industry are more concerned about “fitting in”, quite literally. Gone are the days, when you walk into a party and someone ridicules you for being skinny. Instead, now you are asked about your fitness regime, with of course, the statement, “You look fabulous, I want to be skinny too!”

Kiran Dembla, celebrity fitness personal trainer says, “For models and actresses, it is more like a requirement. Currently, I’m training Madhu Shalini who wants to be skinny. Even if not totally skinny, they all want to be size zero. When it comes to people in the social circuit, it’s more of a fact that they want to show off at parties. There’s a lot of pressure. But it gives them more confidence, that they can wear anything they want to and look great.”

The skinny craze has hit the city too. Dr M. Gayathri, clinical dietician, Apollo Hospitals, has at least two patients a day who take an appointment with her to lose weight. “They come in requesting for a proper diet and wanting to lose 10 kg in one month. But I don’t agree with it. I encourage them to depend 80 per cent on diet and 20 per cent on exercises. As long as their BMI (Body Mass Index) is fine, it’s okay. We also get a lot of people from the IT sector, who have to go abroad for conferences or work, who want to be skinny as they want to maintain a certain profile. They want to look better and the pressure for them is to fit into the culture there,” says Dr Gayathri.