Summer doesn’t really end for a few more weeks, but Labor Day weekend marks the unofficial end of the season in the U.S. It’s time for kids to go back to school and, I figured, a good time for me to look through the summer’s draft blog posts to delete anything that’s grown stale.
That’s when I realized I’ve had a Kelly Clarkson weight story kicking around since the singer got a bunch of magazine covers touting her slimmer shape in June. Happily, a story about Clarkson’s fluctuating weight is timeless because the press always has its collective eye on the poor gal’s waistline. In November, for instance, I wrote a post called “Sucks to be Kelly Clarkson” after the New York Times ran “Kelly Clarkson, a Pop Star Proud in Her Own Skin,” about Clarkson’s girl-next-door qualities. The Times interviewed Courtney E. Martin, author of Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters, who said:
“There’s so much talk about Taylor Swift being the girl next door … but she’s tall and blond, the girl that the girl next door wants to be. But with Kelly, you sense that she really is the girl next door. She acknowledges more complexity than most stars talk about.
“For any woman to not only own her body size at an average woman’s weight is amazing, let alone to own weight gain without shaming and stigmatizing it publicly. It’s a difficult line to walk because Kelly’s private. She doesn’t want to be known as the fat activist pop star. That’s not her mantle.”
Even though the attention being paid to her weight in that story was positive, it seemed burdensome to me. I wouldn’t want people looking at my body in order to make themselves feel better (or worse). I wondered:
“What if Kelly develops a passion for triathlons and becomes a total hard body?”
I was close! Kelly didn’t take up triathlons — but she did get into boot-camp cardio, strength-training, a healthier diet and portion control that helped her lose either 30 lbs. (according to US Magazine’s four-page cover story) or 40 lbs. (according to Life & Style, which only gave her two pages. Bitches!). As you can see from the cover of US, a new romance proved inspiring.
June 11, 2012, issue of US. Click to enlarge.
This isn’t something the magazine made up. Clarkson credited her talent-manager fella Brandon Blackstock herself. While promoting her singing-competition show, Duets, in a May conference call, she said, “I have a boyfriend, and if I’m being completely honest, no one likes to be not toned when you are dating someone,” reported People. She got a cover from Redbook too.
Redbook cover, via People. Click for source.
True to her past statements about weight, her message continues to be about self-acceptance; she’s not getting into thinspiration territory. Clarkson told Redbook, “Really, what I try to instill in my fans is to be healthy and happy. I have no desire to be super-skinny.”
No charge for the idea, Kelly!
I know that is true about the Cadbury!!
arrgggh. Women’s bodies – available 24/7 for critique. Pass the Ghirardelli dark squares.
I’m confused. I thought once you landed your man, you can eat as much Cadbury as you want. No?
Another intriguing, informative post from WendyB. Thanks! Now I’m going to watch the video.
The cheese section in my fridge is half chocolate, I stick to the little slim bars to fool myself that I’m hardly even eating chocolate. Maybe Kelly does the same!
I eat little bits at a time…all day.
You know what, I just think she is the bee’s knees. And please don’t go into shock, but we just watched Eminem last night!
tp
WHAT?! What did you watch? 🙂
big fan of Kelly’s
her voice is amazing no matter what her dress size is
good post
brett
It’s amazing how much people talk about weight. Going up… or down. It does preoccupy our society a lot.
KC is great! I wonder if she would make an incognito appearance to a private party in Dallas for less than 10k? Sigh, there’s always Jewel…
Now I’m really looking forward to my hot chocolate later :).
I cannot imagine the pressure of being watched by the media 24/7. I have adored Kelly since American Idol. She is an amazing talent no matter what her body looks like. I am glad that if she loses weight she does it because she wants to not because she is being pressured by media.
Kirstie Alley is from Wichita and I hate the way she is treated about her weight. My Mother saw her here one day after she had lost weight on whatever system it was she used. She told her she looked good and Kirstie told her it was really hard to keep the weight off. She ended up gaining it back again. I understand because I have done exactly the same things over and over.
Wendy, the thing I admire the most about you is that you say what you think regardless of whether or not it is the popular opinion or not. Kudos to you Wendy Brandes for being the feisty, smart, talented, beautiful woman you are.
Debbi, you are so nice. Thanks for the love. I agree that huge fame would be terrible. I’d absolutely hate to be watched like that and I am not surprised that some people crumble under the pressure. Kelly Clarkson seems to have a better attitude than a lot of people and I just feel bad that she has to talk about her weight in any way at all — even the positive spin on it annoyed the hell out of me. Just leave the poor woman alone!