The Internet Is Trying To Bring Back "Heroin Chic," So Here Are 19 Celebs Who Called Out The Dangers Of Treating Body Shapes Like A Trend

Recently, some outlets have been reporting that the '90s and '00s "heroin chic" body standard is "back" — basically suggesting that a certain level of thinness is "in" while any other body type is "out."

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There's nothing wrong with being thin, of course, but there's also nothing wrong with not being thin. To many people — myself included — treating body types like a "trend" feels like a huge step backward from the strides we've made toward challenging toxic body standards.

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Often, our societal ideas of what's "beautiful" or "acceptable" start with the bodies we see getting the spotlight — on screen, on the runway, and online. However, plenty of people whose entertainment careers put them center stage have been addressing this very issue head-on.

Here are 19 famous women who called out the dangers of treating women's body types like a fashion trend:

Content warning: Some entries mention eating disorders.

1.Jameela Jamil denounced the heroin chic revival in an essay for Paper Mag. She wrote, "We must all violently reject this. We can’t let this industry, or its famous operatives, manipulate us all back there again. ... 'Heroin Chic' had my generation in a chokehold. Most of us still haven’t fully recovered. I barely made it out alive, myself."

She later said, "What alarms me most this time is that, as with any new war, the technology advances and so the capacity for damage increases. ... But weight loss isn’t the only by-product: I have watched people deal with horrific chronic diarrhea, vomiting, lasting digestive troubles, and issues with their spleens, thyroids, kidneys and gallbladders. ... When are we going to realize nobody can tell us what the new trend for our own damn bodies is? We have the power, we are the market. ... I am begging you on behalf of my 11-year-old self and all the 11-year-olds watching and learning from us right now. We cannot go back."

2.In 2009, Jessica Simpson was ruthlessly bodyshamed over viral photos of her in high-waisted jeans. In her 2020 memoir Open Book, she devoted an entire chapter [titled "Death By Mom Jeans"] to the incident. She wrote that it made her feel "embarrassed" for her then-boyfriend and caused an increase in her drinking.

Reflecting on it in 2020, she told Today, "This picture that circulated and went worldwide broke my heart...I was taken down by the world."

3.Lili Reinhart called out Kim Kardashian for boasting about the crash diet she undertook to lose a significant amount of weight before the 2021 Met Gala. On her Instagram story, Lili said, "So wrong. So fucked on 100s of levels. To openly admit to starving yourself for the sake of the Met Gala. When you know very well that millions of young men and women are looking up to you and listening to your every word."

She continued, "To walk on a red carpet and do an interview where you say how starving you are ... because you haven't eaten carbs in the last month ... all to fit in a fucking dress? The ignorance is other-worldly and disgusting. Please stop supporting these stupid, harmful celebrities whose entire image revolves around their bodies."

Later, she followed up her criticism on Twitter, writing, "I do not say the things that I say because I want to be relevant or get attention. I speak up because I don’t see enough people with large platforms calling out toxic behavior in our industry."

4.Queen Latifah told People that she refuses roles that would require her to sacrifice her health in order to achieve a specific "look."

She said, "If I have to do something that is going to be completely unhealthy for me, then that's not the job for me. Someone else should have that job that's already there. … It's called 'no.'"

5.Discussing her experience in the music industry, Lizzo told Apple Music's Zane Lowe, "I feel like fat is the worst thing people can say about me at this point. This is the biggest insecurity. It's like, 'How dare a pop star be fat?' I had to own that."

Speaking more about mainstream culture at large, she said, "The infrastructure has not changed as much. There's still so many people who suffer from being marginalized systemically. Meanwhile, there's a plus-size Black girl at the Grammys. But plus-size Black women are still not getting the treatment they deserve in hospitals and from doctors and at work. ... We got a long way to go."

6.Reflecting on her time as a Victoria's Secret Angel, Bella Hadid told Marie Claire, "It kind of got to the point where my body wasn't owned by me. ... My life for so many years revolved around only working and...how I was going to lose that weight for one of those shows."

After Bella initially separated from Victoria's Secret, it took her "almost a year and a half" to agree to take a meeting with the brand again following major changes to the company.

She said, "Even having that conversation was very complicated for me because of the way that I had felt in the past. But they came to me with a big presentation about everything that they've changed, the way that they're moving forward with not only body diversity, but diversity of women in general. ... Once I sat down with them and had multiple meetings, they were able to prove to me that there are real protocols that are being put in order and put in line to make the best possible environment for us."

7.Erin Heatherton told the Fallen Angel podcast that, during her time as a Victoria's Secret Angel, she felt so pressured to meet the brand's strict beauty standards or risk losing her job that she sought advice from a "nutritionist to the stars," who "started [her] on this diet pill...which [her] therapist later called 'bathwater meth.'"

She said, "I don't have any faith that these people really cared about me. You know what I'm saying? It's just about business."

8.In 2019, Emily Ratajkowski posted an Instagram picture of herself and her friend Caitlin wearing swimsuits from her Inamorata line. Fans accused Emily of posting it to "humiliate" Caitlin while making herself look good, but she replied, "Just because you're used to seeing one body type on the internet doesn't mean that that's the only kind that should be considered 'beautiful.'"

On her Instagram story, she added, "I love my girl's body, and her and I both think she looks great here and that this is a very cute pic of us getting severe sunburns."

9.Ashley Graham told No Filter with Naomi that, when she became the first plus-sized model on the cover of Sports Illustrated's swimsuit Issue in 2016, another model was "so upset" about it and "she said [Ashley] was very large, and that women [her] size should not be on the cover."

Ashley continued, "It was interesting because it brought a whole perspective to the industry. ... Of course you're going to get negativity, you're always going to get negativity. It brought up a great conversation of, 'What is health? What is beauty? What is sexy?'"

10.In 2018, Selena Gomez was body shamed online over weight fluctuation caused by her lupus medication. Reflecting on it a year later, she told the Giving Back Generation vodcast, "I really noticed when people started attacking me for that. In reality, that’s just my truth. I fluctuate. It depends what's happening in my life, it's out of my control and that got to me big time. I think for me, that really messed me up for a bit."

It also caused her to reevaluate her relationship with social media.

She said, "I see so many beautiful girls and amazing different characters, and then they're just demolished by an image they're trying to chase. They're wanting to be a completely different person, but that's not what's inside of them. ... I get it. I look at other people's pages — or, I used to — and I'm like, 'OK, I need to fix myself.'"

11.In 2021, Khloé Kardashian was criticized for taking somewhat drastic measures to have a bikini photo her assistant mistakenly posted scrubbed from the internet. Responding on Instagram, Khloé said, "The photo that was posted this week is beautiful. ... In truth, the pressure, constant ridicule and judgment my entire life to be perfect and meet [others'] standards of how I should look has been too much to bear."

She continued, "It’s almost unbearable trying to live up to the impossible standards that the public have all set for me. For over a decade now in photos, every single flaw and imperfection has been micro-analyzed and made fun of to the smallest detail and I am reminded of them [every day] by the world."

She also explained that she felt she had "every right" to ask for the photo to not be shared. She said, "My body, my image, and how I choose to look and what I want to share is my choice. It's not for anyone to decide or judge what is acceptable or not anymore."

12.After giving birth to her second child, Kylie Jenner candidly spoke about the pressure she felt to look a certain way postpartum. On her Instagram story, she said, "Once I realized that I was putting some pressure on myself. ... And I just keep reminding myself I made a whole human, a beautiful, healthy boy."

She added, "We have to stop putting pressure on ourselves to be 'back.' Not even physically, just mentally, after birth."

13.After Halsey was praised for the way their body looked in their first live performance after giving birth, they said it was a "weird feeling." On Instagram, they wrote, "The body behind all those compliments the other night was wearing a custom tailored outfit and lighted perfectly after much testing, so I could feel good and do my job. I do not want to feed the illusion that you’re meant to feel and look 'great' immediately postpartum."

She continued, "That is not my narrative currently. ... I will never have my 'pre-baby body' back, no matter how it changes physically, because I have now had a baby! And that has altered me forever; emotionally, spiritually, and physically. That change is permanent. And I don’t want to go back!"

14.After previously being told she was "too big to be on TV," Olivia Munn struggled with comparing herself to other women during her pregnancy. She told SiriusXM's Pop Culture Spotlight with Jessica Shaw, "[Comparing myself to a pregnant model] was the first step of feeling like, 'Oh, if I am not handling maternity well, if I’m not looking chic and cool and effortless, and if my body is changing like this, that means that I'm failing. That means that I'm already not doing things right.'"

She continued, "I know there is no right; I understand that. But it's really hard, especially to have so many images in your face all the time of what truly looks like perfection."

Previously, she told People, "What's helped me the most is when friends tell me not to compare myself to other pregnant women. It can be difficult as your body is changing and you feel like you look different or your body is putting on weight in different places. The consistent image that's portrayed is usually very effortless and fashionable. Mine has been a lot of oversized sweatpants!"

15.On Instagram, Mindy Kaling said she was "seriously nervous" and "considered saying no" to her Vogue India cover shoot because she "would have to shoot it six weeks after giving birth to [her] son Spencer."

She told BuzzFeed's News O'Clock, "I was so mad. Not at [Vogue], at myself. Because I had just decided I was just gonna let myself go. Ultimately, I was like, 'I can't give up this opportunity. It means too much.'"

16.Samira Wiley was "really affected" when she was body shamed during a photo shoot. She told People, "One of the outfits they put me in was something that showed a bit of midriff. And honestly, I thought it was fine. But someone on the set was like, 'Oh, don't worry. We can fix that in post.'"

She added, "I can't imagine what all of these young girls who are just looking at these magazines, and their perception is that this is reality and it's not."

17.During a Cinema Café panel for Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, Emma Thompson said that doing her first nude scene at 62 was "very challenging" because "nothing has changed in the dreadful demands made upon women in the real-world world, but also in acting."

She continued, "This thing of having to be thin is still the same as it ever was, and actually in some ways I think it's worse now. ... I don't think I could've done [this scene] before the age that I am. And yet, of course, the age that I am makes it extremely challenging because we aren't used to seeing untreated bodies on the screen."

18.Alicia Witt told Page Six that, in '90s Hollywood, "It was expected and accepted that women could be spoken to and of in a certain way. ... It was considered no big deal to tell a woman, 'You should lose 15 pounds, you should lose 20 pounds.'" She also said she "can’t even count" how many times she was told to lose weight.

She added, "It started when I was a young teenager. And coming from sources as seemingly innocuous as friends. The phrase 'the camera puts on 10 pounds' was something that women would say to their daughters and their sisters."

19.And finally, while Camila Cabello was trying to find a picture to celebrate the second anniversary of "Havana," she accidentally saw "a headline of people 'body shaming [her].'" On her Instagram story, she said, "Honestly, first thing I felt was super insecure just IMAGINING what these pictures must look like. ... But then I was like...of course there are bad pictures, of course there are bad angles. My body's not made of fucking rock..."

She added, "But the saddest part of young girls growing up in an airbrushed world is [that] they're seeking a perfection that's not real. I'm writing this for girls like my little sister who are growing up on social media. ... We have a completely unrealistic view of a woman's body. Girls, cellulite is normal. Fat is normal. It's beautiful and natural. I won't buy into the bullshit today!!! Not today, Satan. And I hope you don't either."