How a Larger Jessica Simpson Affects Me

Unless you’re anti-celebrity gossip, you’ve heard or read the uproar about Jessica Simpson’s weight gain. Sure, Ms. Simpson has packed on a few extra pounds and chose to display her curves with the most unflattering pair of high-waisted jeans. But what’s the big deal? Is the weight gain of a celebrity that big news that not only is it being written about, but other celebrities are responding to it? It seems as though we’ll never be free of hearing about the latest weight-gaining celebrity.

The case is the same in the wonderful world K-pop, and I would conclude that people are even harsher in Korea. There are celebrities who have even taken their own lives due to harsh criticism about their looks. Just last month, a K-pop blogger I enjoy reading wrote how BoA seems to have gained weight while doing some promo work in the US. Again, what’s the big deal?

Aren’t there days YOU overeat and you pack on a few? Aren’t there days YOU did not look your best? I mean come on, celebrities gain weight too — how would you like it if each time you gained weight, people plastered photos of you with a mean blurb about how you’re such a tub of lard and then encouraged others to write mean comments about how fat you’ve gotten? To borrow Shakespeare’s words, do they not bleed if you prick them?

I think I take every stab and put-down about celebrities’ weight gain more personally, as I grew up in an Asian household surrounded by extremely petite women. I went to college and lived with very petite sized Asian gals, all the while having my grandfather’s not so typical Asian frame (he was Korean, but he was quite well built for a man born in his generation). I’m short — 5’2” short to be exact — but I’m bigger boned, and pleasantly chubby, unlike the petite Asian women I was surrounded by; it was natural for me to think I was overweight, large and in charge. And because I have a fairly blunt family, I was told I was big at every family gathering, getting criticism about my size and weight for as long as I can remember. Truthfully, it can really tear you down; each time someone rants about a certain celebrities’ weight gain, I hear it directed at me.

Big, small, plump, or stick, let’s just embrace the size we were made to be and stay healthy in whatever size we are. I think it would be scary to be surrounded by stick skinny women; I’m not sure if its lies, but I do hear that some men actually prefer a woman with some meat on her bones.