Why Are Celebrities' Bodies Shrinking?

Ozempic is only the beginning of the story

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Content note: fatphobia, misogyny, and eating disorders. Please take care when reading. At the same time, I think it’s important to face these issues and think through them together if you have the bandwidth.

It was a foregone conclusion: in the age of Ozempic, the bodies of Hollywood stars would be gaunter than ever for this awards season. Some female actors are now positively skeletal. There’s no need to comment on individual people’s appearance—let alone diagnose them with eating disorders from the armchair—in order to notice and worry about this social trend. Thinness was never “out” of course, particularly among women. But being thin—indeed, thinner than ever—is now de rigeur within elite circles. The glacial progress we had made towards more inclusive beauty standards has quickly been reversed. Judging by the images we’ve been seeing from the red carpet, the arms race for sinewy arms and hollow clavicles is accelerating quickly. And the Oscars tonight are sure to be no exception.

It’s worth interrogating why. And it turns out that Ozempic is only the very beginning of the story.