Ugly Betty Slimming Down, Posh Spice Bulking up?

I can't believe summer is winding down. I might be the most depressed person on the planet. However, the end of summer does mean new episodes of all my favorite TV shows. I am a self proclaimed TV junkie. It's not like I sit in front of my TV for hours upon end, but I do have an obsession with my DVR, and now I've got Comcast On Demand. It's all going down here. New TV, plus cold weather, minus some major sunlight hours and I've got myself quite in the lazy rut.

One of my favorite shows that debuted last year is Ugly Betty. If you watch the show, there is this lingering question, "When is Betty going to get the Anne Hathaway Makeover like in The Devil Wear Prada?" Basically they can't do it, but as some one who went to college without any sense of fashion, you kinda learn/like/follow how everyone around you dresses. Not that I'm a follower, but I didn't own a single pair of designer jeans going to school, and now I could fill up an entire suitcase and not have enough room. In the real world, I would think Betty would adapt and begin to like the designer duds she can score for free, and she can't have braces forever right?


Anyway, here is a recent picture of America Ferrara still looking curvy but much slimmer. She reportedly loves food and works out to keep healthy and strong, I don't think she will ever look like an Olsen twin but what are they going to do about this on the show? Make her wear baggier clothing?

Interesting enough, rumors are circulating around the show biz that Posh Spice will be making a guest appearance on Ugly Betty this season. However, she will be wearing a FAT suit. Yes, you read that correct. The rumor is that she is expected to show up at a wedding but when she arrives the guests are shocked at the pounds she has gained since moving to America due to a food binge since moving to the United States. o, finally, we Brits (and you Yanks) know who the ‘loathed and false’ Victoria Beckham is playing in hit US comedy, Ugly Betty.

"According to reports, the super-thin size zero Spice Girls is playing a fat version of herself, who since arriving in America, has binged on treats. She will shock viewers as she appears in the on-screen wedding in a fat suit.
The singer, who thinks this is going to “really funny”, is apparently cracking America and is “really major”, according to herself. She’s living a lie!
An insider at the ABC network said: “Everybody at the wedding will be expecting skinny beautiful Posh to show up.
“But they’ll be horrified to see she’s piled on the pounds because of major comfort eating and American junk food.”

I don't see the humor in this at all. If anything, it's poking fun on American society and the Obesity epidemic with a British anorexic* woman. (*Maybe not totally anorexic, but come on, she's pretty honest about not eating... Seriously, she admits she doesn't eat, she just doesn't seem to think it's a problem).

I like Ugly Betty for pushing the envelope in regards to immigration laws, and the exceptionally high standards in the fashion industry, but to say that foreigners who move to America are going to automatically get fat, is a little ridiculous. How is Posh going to be funny anyway? She doesn't even smile, let alone be able to laugh at herself...

August 20, 2007

Victoria Beckham Boosts Diet Book's Sales

Ok so, chances are you have no interest in being on whatever diet Victoria Beckham is on, right? The Brittish import has taken LA by storm, and drawing in all the media attention she can get. Obviously she is followed by photographers every minute. Why not share the wealth by being spotted with a book? Yes, Posh Spice was seen recently holding a "diet" book. She's like totally the new Oprah! Since when does this girl need diet advice?
Anyway, Posh was spotted with the book "Skinny Bitch" back in May. I heard about this book back in November 2006. I took a look at it and was intrigued but I never took the next step to actually purchase it or read it. When the photo's hit the web the book jumped from 77,939th place on the Amazon website sales chart to 209th - a whopping increase of 37,000%. Today, it is currently sitting pretty at the number 7 spot on Amazon's top sellers!

This is incredible PR, and one of the smartest moves (if planned) by the author's publicist. However, don't get too excited yet. The book is written by a former model, who has a degree in holistic nutrition and a former modeling agent.

The book boasts a "no-nonsense, tough-love guide for savvy girls who want to stop eating crap and start looking fabulous." Before the rail thin Becks bought the book, it had failed to garner much attention.

So what's this book about you ask? First, it's not for the light hearted with quotes like,"you are a total moron if you think the Atkins Diet will make you thin", and "soda is liquid Satan."
"Based on a vegan philosophy, the Skinny Bitch guide encourages women to eat whole grains, fruits and vegetables while urging them to abandon dairy products, eggs, meat and fish. The authors also issue a scathing attack on meat eaters, calling those who choose to eat meat while attempting to lose weight 'morons'."

Here is a snip-it from a UK newpaper .
Exactly what the already excessively thin Posh - who has long battled rumours of anorexia - expects to glean from the Skinny Bitch book has once again lifted the lid on the debate about celebrity weight loss.

Posh, who according to one newspaper has a 23in waist size - the equivalent of a seven year-old girl - has admitted in the past to suffering from an eating disorder. The 33-year-old mother of three - who wears a UK size 4 and US size 0 - said that she first began to lose weight at the height of the Spice Girls phenomenon in the mid-1990s.

"I became obsessed with what I looked like," she revealed in the April edition of Heat magazine. "I would look in the mirror and check the size of my bottom, see if my double chin was getting smaller.

"I began living on vegetables and nothing else, but it never occurred to me I had an eating disorder, because I was the same size I had always been. I thought I was just getting into shape."

A diagnosis of polycystic ovaries caused her to change her eating habits, but the star admitted that by then the 'damage was done', and that it was hard to resume eating normal food.

Despite published reports of her bizarre eating habits - chewing food excessively, declining portions that can't fit into the palm of her hand (the same size as her stomach), only eating fruit until 3pm and then limiting her caloric intake to 500 for the remainder of the day - Posh claims she no longer has an eating disorder.

"I do control my eating. But I think there is a big difference between someone having an eating disorder and someone who is controlled about what they eat," she told Heat. She admits, though, that she is anxious about her looks. "I know I'm not naturally beautiful or a supermodel," she said. "I'm very insecure about the way I look."
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What do you guys think? I'm on the brink of becoming a vegetarian (sorta) so I don't really want to read the book because I'm afraid I will and I don't think my guy friends would be very welcoming of my newly adopted eating habits. I already get yelled at for buying whole wheat buns and turkey burgers. Is anyone here a vegan or read the book?

August 6, 2007

Hollywood Loves Celebrities and Weight Loss

There has actually been a lot of gossip this week regarding multiple celebrities and their weight. So here is a quick round up for your guilty pleasure.

Famed porn star Jenna Jameson has been under attack the past month for her recent extreme weight loss. Pictures published on the internet have drawn accusations of eating disorders comparing her bony like structure to the likes of Nicole Richie. Jenna just posted a blog on her official MySpace saying that she is saddened by the harsh words people have been saying about her. She blames her nasty divorce, which she can’t elaborate on for legal reasons.
“Does anyone seem to remember the fact that I am going through a nasty divorce? It has been weighing heavily on me. I worked extremely hard for years to secure my success, and i have been forced to fight for everything I busted my ass for. This has definitely affected my weight.”

According to tabloid reports, the ever so slim Victoria Beckham did not eat a single thing on a recent 11-hour flight from London to Los Angeles! She only drank peppermint tea, in which she supplied her own tea bags. The report claimed that Posh was very pleasant but refused all offers from flight attendants when asked if she would like any food. The soon to be LA resident has denied reports of an eating disorder but it has been no secret that she will go to extreme lengths to maintain her a small frame.

I wrote about production delays during the filming of the fifth season of The Simple Life and rumore are still swirling. As reported by TMZ.com, Nicole Richie at times has trouble walking and even talking.

“Nicole Richie suffered a collapse on the set of "The Simple Life" last week, and her health issues are slowing down the production – and pissing off co-star Paris Hilton. According to Ben Widdicombe of the New York Daily News, the health-challenged Richie had to be "taken to her trailer immediately" after the on-set incident, and that at times she has "had trouble walking and speaking clearly," though no ambulances have been called. The show's co-creator, Jon Murray, told the Daily News, "There were a couple times when [Nicole] felt a little woozy and she sat down for a moment, [but] we continued within five to ten minutes." Murray adds that Richie also suffered a "dehydration thing" earlier.”

Lastly, Hillary Duff is coming out with a new album so of course she’s got to get her name in the press somehow. Not only has the 19-year-old been spotted regularly clubbing in LA but also has addressed some the issues surrounding her weight. The singer/actress confessed that she felt pressure from the media and fans to get thin. “I did get skinny,” Hilary tells Britain’s Mail on Sunday. “I’ve felt that pressure like everyone else in my position. When a newspaper comes out that says ‘Duff Puff - she must have gained 15 pounds’ or something like that, how would any normal person react?” Duff says, “It’s so mean, but everyone keeps buying that stuff and talking about it, so it’s not going to go away.”

Don’t these little tidbits make you feel bad for the starlets? Ummm, no. Not me. Although pressure to be thin is much heavier for the rich and famous, pretty much every celebrity included above has thrust themselves in the tabloids. If you can’t take the heat, then get out of the fire. Unless of course you are Posh Spice and actually like the eating disorder rumor mill.

March 21, 2007