Lady Gaga is used to people critiquing the way she looks, but mostly as it pertains to her fashion choices (meat dress, anyone?). But after a stop on her “Born this Way” tour in Amsterdam last Tuesday, the press attacked her for a different reason: her weight.
A story on dailymail.co.uk had a headline that began “Looking meatier!” and included shots from her recent show where she appeared in a “meat” corset contrasted with a photo from a 2009 concert.
Gaga told radio host Elvis Duran that she gained weight recently and was trying to work it off. “I’m dieting right now, because I gained, like, 25 pounds,” she said on air. “I really don’t feel bad about it, not even for a second.”
And yet, the vicious headlines and internet posts maligning Gaga’s weight gain continued. Finally, on Tuesday, Gaga responded on her social media website Littlemonsters.com. She posted several photos of herself in her underwear with this caption:
Bulimia and anorexia since I was 15.
This wasn’t the first time Gaga has talked openly about her history with disordered eating: In a February interview with Maria Shriver, Gaga revealed that she was bulimic in high school and it got so bad that it damaged her voice.
Disordered eating has been making headlines a lot recently, with Gaga’s bulimia post only the most recent example. For instance, earlier this week Katie Couric and Demi Lovato discussed their own personal struggles with eating disorders, including Couric’s bulimia in her 20s, on Monday’s episode of Couric’s new show, “Katie.”
As we reported in the April 2012 issue of Women’s Health, eating disorders are on the rise in adult women. While troubling to learn about, it’s a positive step in the right direction for celebrities like Lady Gaga, Demi Lovato, and Katie Couric to bring so much attention to such a serious, and often stigmatized, issue.
Another positive step: Gaga added a few extra lines to her pictures. They read:
today I join the BODY REVOLUTION.
To Inspire Bravery.
and BREED some m$ therf*cking COMPASSION
With her pictures and words, she created a section on her site called “A Body Revolution,” where she instructs fans to “Be brave and celebrate with us your ‘perceived flaws,’ as society tells us. May we make our flaws famous, and thus redefine the heinous.” As a result, fans have since joined her cause, posting their own stories and pictures about recovering from eating disorders, battling cancer, suffering from skin diseases, and more.
TELL US: What do you think about the media response to Lady Gaga’s weight gain? What are your thoughts on her Body Revolution message?
More from WH:
The Scary Rise in Adult Eating Disorders
New Eating Disorders
Body-Confidence Barriers
Find easy ways to look and feel good fast in Dr. Oz’s book You Being Beautiful
