Breaking news, everybody: Demi Moore is really, really skinny again. (So apparently there was a period of time in the past 5 or 10 years when she wasn't really, really skinny? Guess I missed that one.) Some recent pics of a super-svelte Moore leaving the gym have everybody wondering if the Ashton Kutcher/Mila Kunis thing is sending the star back into breakdown mode. Which is possible, of course.
But because she's famous, the truth is that Demi Moore will never be able to win the "ideal weight" game. As soon as a celebrity loses or gains a few too many pounds, the rumors start flying: Maybe Angelina Jolie has hepatitis C! Is Lady Gaga pregnant? Does LeAnn Rimes have an eating disorder? Lindsay Lohan must be using drugs again! Even men in the public eye deal with this particular kind of scrutiny -- hello, Macaulay Culkin?
What makes us automatically assume that even slight fluctuations in a celebrity's weight mean that something is wrong? That the person is somehow sick? (Pregnancy is an exception, but it's still a huge assumption to make.)
I mean, do we leap to the same conclusions about people we actually know personally? Do we look our friends and family members up and down, using the size of their hips or thighs as an overall well-being barometer?
Hmm, wait a minute ... we sort of do. Whoops. Maybe that's the real question, then -- not why do we judge celebrities by their bodies, but why do we judge EVERYBODY by their bodies? Think about it -- how many times have you, for example, noticed your friend's usually snug jeans hanging a little low and asked, "Is everything okay?" Or, how many times have you noticed your friends usually baggy jeans fitting a bit snugly and asked, "So, have any big news for me?"
I'm not sure, but it doesn't seem fair.
Why do you think we judge people in general by their weight?
Image via David Shankbone/Flickr
This Hot Dad Wants to Do Your Ironing
This Hot Dad Wants to Cook You Dinner
This Hot Dad Cooks AND Does the Dishes
Kanye West is Gay?! 
Comments 4
I guess we interpret a persons well being with their weight.... My late grandmother, who was born in 1902, used to say we were most beautiful when we were most fat!!!! In her view, given she lived thru a few wars, economic depression, etc.. being chubby meant being well fed.
A persons weight is their problem. If yous kids loose or gain in an alarming way, then it is our bussiness.
People sometimes judge those who are slim because they are jealous. Being a "skinny" child, called "stick legs," etc. was no fun. (Those same kids weren't teasing by the time I was in high school, let me put it that way.) In my twenties and thirties my life was very busy and became thin again, mostly from burning a lot of energy. Now I am between average weight and plump, which happened about ten years ago, and now at the age of 55 I'm dealing with the turnaround--friends and family telling me to loose weight. So there is this 15 lb. range of weight women need to be at before they're told they're too fat or thin? Just like when I was a young woman I don't listen to them. I just want to be healthyand happy, and consider myself healthy and happy during my youth and during my middle age.