Oh no, someone call the body police, Nicole Richie is apparently 88 pounds (so specific) again and living off of “sunflower seeds, celery, and juices” while staving off hunger by smacking bubblegum. Actually, someone did call the body police–The Daily Mail and Star are already snarking on her ass.
This is not the first time armchair physicians and psychologists have accused Paris Hilton’s ex BFF of anorexia. She dropped a lot of weight years ago and photos of her in a bikini were used as suspect evidence to prove she was physically and mentally unwell. I vaguely remember in an attempt to fight off/laugh off these eating disorder rumors, Richie and her fellow It Girl also under the body police microscope, Lindsay Lohan, staged a paparazzi opportunity so that they could be photographed eating cake. Richie even poignantly responded to the anorexia rumors of old. Four years ago, she told Marie Claire:
“I felt it was a little unfair to say someone has an eating disorder when they don’t. It’s extremely insulting and irresponsible. An eating disorder is serious and it’s a disease.”
And she was right. It is unfair, insulting and irresponsible.
In the years since those mid-oughts days of anorexia chatter, Richie’s body had changed and she was no longer under scrutiny for being “too skinny.” No longer! She’s lost weight again and apparently her body is up for public examination. Star Magazine’s recent cover is a photo of Nicole Richie in shorts with the words “Tragic Relapse: Anorexic Again.” As far as I know, the tabloid is not a doctor treating Richie.
Though Star Magazine made that outlandish and rude diagnosis that Nicole Richie is “anorexic again” an alleged friend of Lionel Richie’s daughter told my favorite rag that Star’s claim “is completely false, she is not anorexic.” One point to The Daily Mail for publishing apparent insider info negating disgusting allegations against Richie, but minus a million for the body snarking subsequent to their touch of kindness.
Here are some gleaming examples of their skewering thoughts on her body:
“There is no arguing she has lost a lot of weight since she looked healthy – and sexy – in a black bikini just over two years ago.”
So sad, because she once looked “sexy” and now she’s too skinny too be sexy. I’m being sarcastic. She’s sexy regardless of her body fat. Stop shaming skinny women.
“In late October when she stepped out in a black dress with a plunging neckline to the Who What Wear 50 Style Stars event in West Hollywood, her chest appeared bony and her arms were very slender.
In mid November she displayed some very protruding shoulders bones while at Balthazar and Rosetta Getty’s home in Los Angeles.”
So, they’ve been creepily keeping track of her bones. Gross.
“Her waist line looked tiny and her jaw line was extremely defined. When she walked onstage…her hip bones even stuck out.”
More with the bones business.
“At an Art Basel party in Miami, the cover girl looked almost skeletal next to Kim Kardashian.”
The phrase “almost skeletal” seems a little funny coming from the people who are using pictures of Nicole Richie as diagrams of the human skeleton as they sing that head bone’s connected to the neck bone song.
It’s all absurd and totally fucked up. Nicole Richie is a big star with a famous husband and some kids. Just because she’s a celebrity and being photographed all the time does not make it okay to use images from public events or paparazzi photos in this manner. Counting her bones, claiming she’s afflicted with a very serious disorder, and comparing her current body to her past body are sociopathically uncool maneuvers. If she actually is sick, these accusations are really deplorable and dangerous; however, if she is not actually sick, they’re still tasteless and symptomatic of our culture’s obsession with keeping the female body in check.
