What do you do when your favourite celeb’s body changes?
My name’s Georgia Buckle, and I’m a university student studying Nutrition and health, currently on a placement with The Body Happy Organisation. During my time at BHO, I want to explore and bring awareness of systemic issues, around accessibility and understanding of health, especially for the young population, to create a change in how we view health, prioritising nourishment over appearance.
Celebrities have influenced not only our personal lives but also the society we live in. Celebrities have become a tool in promotion, marketing, and trends in social media [1].
Especially for beauty standards, many celebrities are either praised or shamed for their looks. In recent years, we have seen many celebrities change in their appearance from celebs like Ariana Grande, Rebel Wilson, Kelly Clarkson and Adele. However, the media highly focuses on these changes, critiquing their bodies. Even though, individuals have a right to their body autonomy and privacy. These standards do not seem to apply for celebrities [2].
In this blog we will explore the impact in how the pressure from media on celebrities' bodies impacts young people and our culture.
Pressure Celebrities Face
Since the early forms of media, beauty has always been idolised in celebs, especially women. The media setting unrealistic standards of beauty that are forever changing, such as flawless skin, perfect hair, thinness, hourglass figure and more. Particularly, with the growth in social media. Celebrities are constantly monitored and scrutinised for their appearance [3].
Millie Bobby Brown recently made an Instagram video. Explaining the harmful effects of the criticism she has received growing up. In the video, she said: “I grew up in front of the world and for some reason people can’t seem to grow up with me” [4]. These standards to never change not only put pressure on celebrities to uphold beauty standards, but they can also create a toxic culture. This can also negatively impact celebrities own body image – they are people too and share similar struggles as we do.
Selena Gomez has also described her own issues with body image. She has spoken publicly about a health condition and explained that it means her body constantly changes; she receives a lot of scrutiny for this even though she cannot control it. This shows how we as people can never truly never know what others are going through and cannot judge based on someone’s appearance [5].
Reflecting current culture and impact
The unrealistic beauty ideals place pressure on not just celebrities but also us as people, to invest and follow these standards. The rise in weight loss drugs like Ozempic being used by celebrities like Scott Disik, Rebel Wilson and Oprah Winfrey has pushed towards trends of thinness in the health and wellness culture.
Although, the decision to use these drugs are personal to everyone based on circumstances it can still impact how we view health. Many celebrities have their own reason for using the drugs. But as so much media focuses on how celebrities have “transformed” or “enhanced” their bodies it can mean that the body transformations become the main story [7].
Social media creates this mask of the “perfect” body, but as people it is hard to not see this as reality and can lead to a spiral of self-comparison. As someone who has been on social media from a young age, these ideals became my reality, leading me to critique and shame my own body.
I consumed so much of my time on my looks that I forgot what truly matters to me: My family, friends, hobbies, passions and my own wellbeing. As I get older and start my own journey to heal my relationship with my body, I realise how important not only looking after myself is for my health, but for my enjoyment out of life.
Call to Action
We are constantly surrounded by media and celebrities' presence on social media. But we must remind ourselves that the media often does not reflect reality and that every individual - regardless of wealth or background - has a right to access health behaviours and practice body autonomy. I hope that with more celebrities pushing back against body shaming, it creates a shift allowing others to embrace our imperfections and celebrate the individuality of our bodies.
Ways to improve your body image:
Don’t make comments on someone's appearance. Our appearance does not reflect our health or values.
Take breaks from social media and curate your feed to follow those who make you feel good
Prioritise wellbeing and self-care – for example, getting sleep, socialising, movement, eating well and looking after our personal hygiene can all be acts of self-care.
Use positive affirmations to build self esteem
Challenge your thoughts around appearance or diet focused social media content. Instead of reacting, take a moment to reflect and check the information. Direct your attention to sources of media, that do not focus on telling you to alter or restrict your body or diet.
References:
[1] BSN Voices. 2019. How celebrities Influence Us. BBC School Report.
[2] Mwangi, Z. Buvar, A. 2024. The beauty complex: social media trends, effects and opportunities. Cogent Social Sciences. 10(1).
[3] Johnston, J. Foster, J. Navigating the Beauty Bind: Young People’s Intersectional Persepctoves on Appearance, Privilege, Inequality. Cultural Sociology.
[4] Rackham, A. 2025. Millie Bobby Brown says journalists are ‘bullying’ her. BBC News Culture.
[5] Rosario, A. 2024. Selena Gomez reveals health diagnosis in reponse to body shammers: ‘This makes me sick’. Los Angeles Times.
[6] ABC News. 2023. Selena Gomez pushes back on body shaming attacks – Nightline. YouTube.
[7] Fong, S. Carollo, A. Lazuras, L. Corazza, O. Esposito, G. 2024. Ozempic (Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist) in social media posts: Unveiling user perspectives through Reddit topic modeling. Emerging Trends in Drugs, Addictions and Health. 4.
