Emily
In Hollywood, it’s well-known that unrealistic and harmful beauty standards are imposed on many celebrities.
From being expected to maintain a thin yet curvy figure to hiding gray hairs and achieving flawless skin, only a few manage to meet all the criteria.
For those who don’t, the consequences can be harsh, including social media criticism and fewer job opportunities.
However, some celebrities are pushing back against society’s expectations and challenging those who criticize their choice to embrace their natural appearance.
Below, Bored Panda highlights 21 stars who have spoken out against Hollywood’s absurd aesthetic standards.
1. Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis revealed she’s been “sucking in” her stomach since she was 11, an age “when you start being conscious about boys and bodies.” Now, she plans to stop.
“In the world, there is a billion-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 assumed 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.
2. Viola Davis
In 2018, award-winning actress Viola Davis 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 Davis, who graduated from Juilliard.
She also addressed the lack of opportunities for actresses of color to publicize their work compared to their white counterparts. “You’ll have a Shailene Woodley, who’s fabulous. And she may have had 37 magazine covers in one year. And then you’ll have a young actress of color who’s on her same level of talent and everything. And she may get four.”
3. Helen Mirren
Despite the pressure many women feel to dye their hair as they age, some choose to embrace their natural strands. Dame Helen Mirren has long sported a stylish grey bob and advocates for recognizing grey 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,” she told People. “So why not just embrace it, go along with it and welcome it? Make it a positive thing as opposed to a negative thing.”
4. Emma Thompson
Two-time Oscar winner Emma Thompson revealed she was deemed “not pretty enough” by male executives for nude scenes, which prevented her from getting several roles. “I have never conformed to the shape or look of someone they might want to see naked,” she told The Times.
Admitting that she never had the traditional slim figure associated with Hollywood actresses, she added, “To be truly honest, I will never ever be happy with my body. It will never happen. I was brainwashed too early on. I cannot undo those neural pathways.”
At 63, Thompson bared it all on screen in “Good Luck To You, Leo Grande,” an experience she met with a “healthy terror” and which many found empowering.
5. America Ferrera
In 2023, actress America Ferrera reflected on her early career when her “average-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,” she 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.”
6. Hilary Duff
Hilary Duff slammed body-shamers by sharing a photo that would be edited out or ridiculed if featured on a magazine cover. In 2017, she posted a picture of herself in a swimsuit at the beach with her son, sharing it “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,” she wrote. “I’m turning 30 in September and my body is healthy and gets me where I need to go. Ladies, let’s be proud of what we’ve got and stop wasting precious time in the day wishing we were different, better, and unflawed.”
7. 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.”
8. Charlize Theron
In 2023, Charlize Theron opened up about how men and women’s aging processes are perceived differently, arguing that men are believed to “age like fine wine and women like cut flowers.” “I despise that concept, and I want to fight against it, but I also think women want to age in a way that feels right to them,” the 48-year-old actress told Allure. She believes people should be more “empathetic” with each individual’s aging journey and quit making uncalled-for comments about their appearance.
9. Jenna Ortega
In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, 21-year-old actress Jenna Ortega 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,” she explained.
The “Wednesday” star revealed that she couldn’t access many roles because she “didn’t look a certain way,” which made her dislike her appearance over time. 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.”