Jennifer Aniston has had enough. She penned an open letter on Tuesday, firing back at the relentless gossip, scrutiny and body shaming culture of the Hollywood industry and society at large

The 47-year-old actress, producer and director has been plagued with pregnancy rumours for months, which she put to rest in her letter although she shouldn’t have needed to. She slams “being made to feel ‘less than’ because my body is changing and/or I had a burger for lunch and was photographed from a weird angle and therefore deemed one of two things: “pregnant” or “fat.”
She writes, “The objectification and scrutiny we put women through is absurd and disturbing.”
She goes on to say,
“[Women] are complete with or without a mate, with or without a child. We get to decide for ourselves what is beautiful when it comes to our bodies.”
You can read Jennifer’s open letter here.
The Internet seems to stand by Jen, yet the world is a confusing place sometimes. Just last month, CLEO Singapore featured a group of curvy women in their magazine which drew flak online with derogatory comments directed at the women. The women’s photos were also reported and taken down on Instagram, which just shows how intolerant and unloving our society can be.
Jennifer isn’t the first actress to speak up on body shaming issues. Hear what these other celebs, who’ve been called out or criticised for their body, have to say:
The Ghostbusters actress has voiced support for Jennifer’s essay, calling for everyone to “stop tearing down women” in an interview with Entertainment Online.
She’s no stranger to derogatory name-calling too, with critics having labelled her a “female hippo” and “tractor-sized” in their reviews of her movies. Melissa took to social media, saying, “We have to stop categorizing and judging women based on their bodies. We are teaching young girls to strive for unattainable perfection instead of feeling healthy and happy in their own skin.” Truth!
The British songstress shrugged off Karl Lagerfield’s remarks when he called her “a little too fat” by saying: “I’ve never wanted to look like models on the cover of magazines. I represent the majority of women and I’m very proud of that.”
In her interview with Rolling Stone, she reminds everyone, “I don’t make music for eyes, I make music for ears.”
When Kim was pregnant with North West a few years back, the tabloids were ruthless in their judgement of her pregnancy weight gain, calling her “whale-like”.
The feisty reality star tweeted a strong statement: “Anyone who has had a baby knows how hard it is to lose weight… your body totally changes! Making fun of me pregnant and making fun of me trying to lose weight now shame on you.” You go, Kim.
Her sister, Khloe, has always been labelled “the fat one” of the Kardashian family, with both the media and her own mother calling for her to lose weight.
The reality TV star had this to say: “My weight does not define who I am.” On her official website, she posted: “I’m proud of my body. My body weight will always be something that I’ll struggle with for the rest of my life, but I’m finally in a good place and learning to love me for me, and not somebody else’s standards.”
The “All About That Bass” singer recently took down her music video, “Me Too”, from Youtube after she realised that her waist had been heavily photoshopped in it.
She re-released the original version, saying “[I] called them and said, ‘I never asked you to touch my waist, can I please have my waist back?’ And when I got my waist, I was very happy with it, and I didn’t see why you would need to bring it in smaller.” We don’t either, Megs.
In what is perhaps one of the most iconic public responses to body shaming, the supermodel lashed out at tabloid criticisms of a bathing suit photo in which she seemed a bit curvier than usual. Her 2006 TV tirade is memorable for her succinct, powerful speech where she says:
“To all of you that have something nasty to say about me, or other women that are built like me; women that sometimes or all the time look like this, women whose names you know, women whose names you don’t, women who have been picked on, women whose husbands put them down, women at work or girls in school — I have one thing to say to you. Kiss my fat a**!”
The svelte actress opens up about being shamed for her apparently too-thin looks:
“I’ve seen a lot of comments that say, ‘Eat a sandwich’ or ‘She looks sick.’ I’ve been looking at myself in the mirror being mean to myself. I’m not sick. I eat sandwiches,” she told USA Today.
She goes on to recognise the dangers of the body shaming culture: “I’ve shamed myself for it. We shame each other online. We’re always too skinny or too fat or too tall or too short. It bothers me because I care so much about young girls.”
She plays Wonder Woman on the big screen and is a model in real life, but Gal Gadot came under scrutiny by body shamers (critics and fans alike) who called her “too skinny” to play the Amazonian superheroine. They said her head was “too big” and her body was “like a broomstick”.
Her reply?
“I can take anything. It’s just empty talk.” Spoken like a true wonder woman.
The fashion designer and TV personality banned body shaming terms from her official website. Instead, she chooses to focus on words like “fit”, “toned” and “healthy”.
She writes: “The word skinny will now be reserved for skinny jeans. My editorial team and I had a long talk about it, and we want to make sure that the focus is on being fit as opposed to a number on the scale. Every body is created differently—and healthy bodies come in all shapes and sizes.”
Men also get body shamed, and it shouldn’t be overlooked. The Prisonbreak star penned a heartfelt open letter earlier this year about his battle with depression that caused him to gain weight and become the cruel joke of an Internet meme.
Read more about his experience here.
For stories on body confidence, read 10 Celebs Reveal Their Body Confidence Tips And Tricks, Body Confidence Tips From Three Superfit Women and How Women Everywhere Reacted To The A4 Waist Challenge.