I've been through my highs, I've been through my lows; I've been through the gamut of all things in this business. Being too thin. Being bigger. I've been criticized for being on both sides of the scale. It's noise I block out automatically. I love my body.
Being too thin. Being bigger. I've been criticized for being on both sides of the scale.
One misconception I think is wrong is that being a larger size means, somehow, that you're neglecting your body, or you don't look after yourself, or you don't love yourself enough to lose weight. We've been saturated with the idea that to be happy you must be thin, or to be healthy you must be thin.
I don't want to fly the flag for being unhealthy and overweight, but I don't want to fly the flag for being too thin, either.
I went through an awkward phase with my body and was often ragged for being too thin. I didn't understand then why people were being so unkind, but I used it to make myself mentally stronger.
For the longest time, Indian women have been okay with being curvy. But I think the modern Indian woman needs to get toned. I don't endorse being thin. Anorexia and bulimia are a reality in India because everybody wants to be thin.
I don't have a problem with being overweight. That's fine. But there's a thin line between being unhealthy and overweight.
I haven't always been the best advocate for my own body. I was a too-tall, pudgy child who felt completely out of control of the genetic lottery ticket she'd been given, so in retaliation, I shut down. I ignored my body and hated it for not being tiny and cute like my friends' bodies.
My eyes are too big, my nose is too flat, my ears stick out, my mouth is too big and my face is too small... my body is thin as a clarinet and my ankles are so skinny that I wear two pairs of bobby socks because I don't want people to see how thin they are.
Obese kids watch no more television than kids who aren't obese. All the thin kids watch massive amounts of television, too. There is no statistical correlation between obesity and media use, period.
It's not about being thin, it's about being healthy. And when you are a child you like to eat all these unhealthy things like chocolate and sweets. Oh my God. I love strawberries dipped in chocolate and Lion bars and Toffee Crisps - and as you grow up, you have to learn that those things are only good in moderation or you will become very fat.
Being married to Andy has given me a new appreciation for my body. He's taught me that it's not how thin you are that matters. It's how your body performs, how it endures wear and tear.
Women I admired growing up - Debra Winger, Diane Keaton, Meryl Streep - were all beautiful and thin, but not too thin. There are a lot of actresses who are unhealthy-skinny - much, much too skinny. You can't Pilates to that.
My mother used to tell me, 'I'm fake thin, but don't tell anyone.' I think part of her reputation for dieting too much was to do with her upper body and thoracic cage being thinner than average, thus her thin waist.
I think that some of the biggest surprises I've had early on, actually to this day, are all the misconceptions about my body and my health. There are so many people who think that being a plus-size model, that there's something wrong with it, or that I must be unhealthy or that I'm promoting an unhealthy lifestyle.
I've often been given the career advice to not wear too many hats, which, of course, has just encouraged me to wear other hats, such as being a writer, being a curator, or just doing anything outside of the definition of an artist.