Article created by: Karina Babenok
In the realm of Hollywood, it’s no secret that there’s a prevalence of unrealistic and detrimental beauty standards to which many celebrities are consistently subjected.
From being thin yet curvy to concealing their gray hairs and having flawless skin, it seems like few people are able to check all the boxes.
For many, not doing so comes with the hefty price of social media criticism and reduced work opportunities.
Despite this, some celebrities have chosen to challenge society's expectations, calling out those who object to their decision to celebrate their physical appearance.
Below, Bored Panda presents a list of 21 stars who have raised their voice about Hollywood’s absurd aesthetic norms.
#1 Jamie Lee Curtis
The talented actress revealed that she’s been “sucking in” her stomach since she was 11 years old, an age “when you start being conscious about boys and bodies.”
Now, she's planning to stop.
“In the world, there is an industry—a billion-dollar, trillion-dollar industry—about hiding things,” she captioned a photo of herself in character.
“Concealers. Body shapers. Fillers. Procedures. Clothing. Hair accessories. Hair products. Everything to conceal the reality of who we are. And my instruction to everybody was: I want there to be no concealing of anything.”
The 65-year-old star continued: “I very specifically decided to relinquish and release every muscle I had that I used to clench to hide the reality.”
“That was my goal. I have never felt more free creatively and physically.”
While people have assumed that her belly in the Oscar-winning film Everything Everywhere All at Once was a prosthetic, it was her real stomach that Curtis wanted to show.
Image credits: jamieleecurtis/aarp
#2 Viola Davis
In 2018, the award-winning actress sat down with journalist Tina Brown for the Women in the World Salon event and spoke about being excluded from roles due to her race.
“I have a career that’s probably comparable to Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Sigourney Weaver.”
“They all came out of Yale, they came out of Juilliard, they came out of NYU. They had the same path as me, and yet I am nowhere near them. Not as far as money, not as far as job opportunities, nowhere close to it,” said Viola, who graduated from Juilliard.
She also addressed the lack of opportunities many actresses of color have to publicize their work compared to white actresses.
“You’ll have a Shailene Woodley, who’s fabulous. And she may have had 37 magazine covers in one year. 37!”
“And then you’ll have someone — a young actress of color who’s on her same level of talent and everything. And she may get four.”
Image credits: violadavis
#3 Helen Mirren
Despite the impulse many women feel to dye their white hair as they age, some choose to embrace their natural strands and show them off.
Dame Helen Mirren has long rocked a stylish grey bob, and has called for people to recognise her hair as a “positive as opposed to a negative.”
“I think women were just so terrified of having white or grey hair because it immediately put them into a different category,” the actress told People.
“And of course, you are in that age group. I’m sorry, but you are! So, why not just embrace it, go along with it and welcome it? Make it a positive thing as opposed to a negative thing.”
Image credits: helenmirren
#4 America Ferrera
In 2023, the Barbie actress reflected on the early moments of her career, when her “averaged sized body” was described as “curvy” by the media and praised for setting a new standard for women.
“Not that I care, but it's like, that's insane that we thought that was so groundbreaking,” America told Elle.
"I was Hollywood’s version of imperfect, which seems so ridiculous... I don't feel alone in that either.”
“There are so many women who were called brave, just because they are people in bodies."
Image credits: americaferrera
#5 Hilary Duff
Hilary Duff slammed body-shamers by sharing a photo that would be edited out (or kept untouched and ridiculed) if it was featured on a magazine cover.
In 2017, the Disney star posted a picture of herself in a swimsuit enjoying a day out on the beach with her son, which she shared “on behalf of young girls, women, and mothers of all ages."
"Since websites and magazines love to share 'celeb flaws' — well I have them! My body has given me the greatest gift of my life: Luca, five years ago,” Hilary wrote.
“I'm turning 30 in September and my body is healthy and gets me where I need to go.”
“Ladies, lets be proud of what we've got and stop wasting precious time in the day wishing we were different, better, and unflawed.”
Image credits: hilaryduff
#6 Zendaya
During the 2017 Beautycon Festival, Zendaya referred to herself as “Hollywood’s acceptable version of a Black girl,” a reality she felt needed to change.
"As a Black woman, as a light-skinned Black woman, it's important that I'm using my privilege, my platform to show you how much beauty there is in the African American community,” the Emmy-nominated actress said.
“It's about creating those opportunities. Sometimes you have to create those paths. And that's with anything, Hollywood, art, whatever."
Image credits: zendaya
#7 Jenna Ortega
In an interview with Harper's Bazaar, the 21-year-old actress spoke about the lack of roles in Hollywood for people of Latin descent.
"As a child actor, there are two jobs that you can get: You're either the younger version of someone, or you're playing somebody's daughter – and there were just not many leading Hispanic actors who I could be that for,” Jenna explained.
The Wednesday star revealed that she couldn’t access many roles because she “didn’t look a certain way,” which over time made her dislike her appearance.
"I wanted to dye my hair blonde so that I would look like Cinderella,” she continued.
Ultimately, she decided to ignore the pressure to adhere to such unattainable beauty standards.
"I thought, 'I don’t want other young girls to look up at the screen and feel like they have to change their appearance to be deemed beautiful or worthy.'"
"I want all people of Latin descent to be able to see themselves on screen. I want to feel that I could open doors for other people."
Image credits: jennaortega
#8 Jonah Hill
Jonah Hill has spoken about the ways in which the press has contributed to his insecurities regarding his body.
On Instagram, he shared screenshots of a Daily Mail story that featured paparazzi photos of him at the beach.
"I don’t think I ever took my shirt off in a pool until I was in my mid 30s even in front of family and friends."
"Probably would have happened sooner if my childhood insecurities weren’t exacerbated by years of public mockery about my body by press and interviewers," the Django Unchained actor wrote.
"So the idea that the media tries to play me, by stalking me while surfing and printing photos like this, and it can’t [faze] me anymore is dope. I’m 37 and finally love and accept myself."
Image credits: Jimmy Kimmel Live
#9 Channing Tatum
When Kelly Clarkson showed the actor a picture of himself shirtless in Magic Mike XXL during an interview on her show, Channing responded, "That might be the reason why I didn't want to do a third one, is I have to look like that."
Channing described his muscular figure as not “natural” or “healthy.”
Preparing for the role wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience. Speaking of his diet, he shared that, "You have to starve yourself. I don't think when you're that lean, it's actually healthy."
In a previous appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, the 21 Jump Street actor admitted, "As someone who works out for a job, I promise you I would not look like this unless I had to be naked in most of my movies, mostly."
"At some point, I have to get better at acting so I don't have to be naked in all of them,” he joked.
Image credits: channingtatum
#10 Gina Rodriguez
In 2015, Gina told Glamour that she doesn’t feel insecure upon noting that a magazine photo editor has decided to photoshop her pictures after a shoot.
"After a photo shoot, if I get photoshopped to make me 'look better' and it doesn't look like me, I remind myself, those are their standards, definitely not mine,” the Jane The Virgin star expressed.
However, this doesn’t mean that they never affect her self-esteem.
“I am not superhuman. I constantly work on not letting those images push away the reminder that I am beautiful the way I am.”
Image credits: hereisgina
#11 Olivia Rodrigo
The Bad Idea Right? singer-songwriter spoke about her struggles to accept her appearance in a media that values “European'' physical traits.
Born in Murrieta, California, the three-time Grammy winner is of Filipino descent.
"It's hard for anyone to grow up in this media where it feels like if you don't have European features and blond hair and blue eyes, you're not traditionally pretty.
“I felt that a lot — since I don't look exactly like the girl next door in all these movies, I'm not attractive,” Olvia told The Guardian.
"That actually took me a while to shake off. It's something I’m still shaking off now," she admitted.
Image credits: oliviarodrigo
#12 John Boyega
The British actor questioned what he refers to as “the false narrative of perfection” about how entertainers are expected to look.
Discussing his wish to tell more realistic stories, he said “It's not only race to me. It's aesthetic of people. Why do leads always have to be muscular and ripped?"
"That kind of sometimes shows to me that the guy has too much time on his hands. What real war hero of history [looks that way?]”
“It's about rebranding the way in which we are fed a false narrative of perfection."
His recent movie, They Cloned Tyrone, showcases his efforts to take a traditional story and recontextualize it through a new lens, one that’s culturally significant to him and to a broader audience.
“The aliens ain't landing in no suburban white neighborhood,” he said of the sci-fi film’s plot. “They're not landing in a multicultural city, you know what I mean? They going all the way to Black folk.”
Image credits: johnboyega
#13 Priyanka Chopra
The actress and model, crowned Miss Universe in 2000, said she’s thrilled about the expanding definition of what society considers attractive, but made it clear she believes there’s still a long way to go.
She told Allure: “You see so many women, different sizes, modeling, acting, taking their strength, but it's the mindset that needs to change, of society, of men, of people—that view where a woman in a plus size should not be a check in the box.”
“Or a woman of color should not be a check in the box. Or a woman shouldn't be a check in the box.”
“Everyone doesn't look the same way, so the world needs to be trained to see beauty differently.”
Image credits: priyankachopra
#14 Ashley Benson
When Ashley was told she wasn’t slim enough for a role, she spent some time weeping. And then she stopped caring.
"I was just told I was too fat for a part," she shared in Ocean Drive, "I'm a size 2! I cried for 30 minutes, but then you have to let it roll off your shoulders or it could cause a serious eating disorder.”
The Spring Breakers star said that these comments aren’t infrequent in showbusiness, and “a lot of people in this industry hear they need to lose weight more times than they should.”
After seeing that a magazine had published an edited photo of her with flawless skin, she felt like she needed to show what she really looked like to her followers, which prompted her to share a “zit cream selfie.”
"I hate to think that girls are like, 'She's so skinny! Her skin is so perfect!' I have pimples just like they do.”
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Image credits: ashleybenson
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