There’s No Good Way to Talk About Celebrities and Eating Disorders

Content warning: This piece includes descriptions of eating disorders that may be triggering to some readers.

Viral discourse about celebrity women becoming frighteningly thin has become inescapable on social media.

There are images showing the most shocking evidence of weight loss, “before and after” compilations, and widespread speculation about covert GLP-1 usage. A lot of the conversation is being held under the guise of concern, but experts tell WIRED many of these posts—even if well-intentioned—misinform the public about eating disorders and can even serve as unhealthy inspiration or trigger those in recovery.

The discourse has reached a fever pitch after Ariana Grande released a music video for her new single and album “Petal,” which features her auditioning endlessly for a table of misogynistic male studio executives who urge her to “lose a few [pounds]” and “get some work done.” Nearly every comment on the video expresses concern for Grande’s health because of her thin appearance. Other celebrities like Jameela Jamil have spoken up, writing that the video was irresponsible for glamorizing a “deeply damaging image for her young fans.”

Following the public reaction to the video, Grande’s team announced that she would be pulling out of a planned theatrical run on London’s West End and “taking a much-deserved break from public-facing work and appearances, which has led to endless, ongoing public scrutiny” after she wraps up her Eternal Sunshine Tour. But that statement prompted even more critical discourse, with commenters arguing that they were being villainized for caring about the pop star’s health and influence.

It’s understandable why people are concerned, both for and about Grande.

The renaissance of the unhealthy “heroin chic” beauty standard, following the rise and apparent fall of “body positivity” in the 2010s, coincided with an alarming increase in the number of young people seeking treatment for eating disorders, which can be life-threatening.

Posting about eating disorders—celebrity or otherwise—can be an earnest attempt to save people from them. Images that highlight Grande’s thinness have become unavoidable, though, even for people who are actively trying to avoid being triggered by them. Their ubiquity is exacerbated by social media algorithms that show people increasingly extreme rabbit holes of the same kind of content they previously engaged with.

“I feel pretty comfortable saying that sharing these specific images of [Grande], including ‘before and afters,’ is both unhelpful and harmful,” says Allison Logue, a family therapist with a decade of experience treating patients with eating disorders. She said that sharing comparison pictures is common among people with eating disorders. Some of the viral posts about celebrity women’s appearances are indistinguishable or even come directly from pro-anorexia or “pro-ana” spaces where at-risk individuals use them as inspiration and to compete with each other for a similar appearance.

When celebrities receive an outpouring of attention based on their weight loss, it may encourage some individuals with eating disorders to try to imitate that appearance and seek out that same concern, Logue adds. The broad obsession with celebrities’ weight also reinforces the idea that everyone is paying attention to and judging how you look, which can exacerbate the fears of people with eating disorders.

While Logue told WIRED that Grande’s appearance is concerning—and has been for years—she says that as a stranger, she cannot say for sure whether Grande is struggling with an eating disorder. She notes that the media’s overwhelming focus on individuals with lower weights obscures the reality that people of any and all sizes can have eating disorders.

When a patient is seeking treatment, Logue says, she does not use their appearance to express concern or as a motivator, because there are always other contributing factors. With a public figure, Logue says, we don’t have real insights into these factors. Instead, most people focus on what their body looks like.

Although a lot of commenters say they’re less worried about Grande individually and more concerned about the impact she may have on her young fans, Logue says focusing our efforts on celebrities’ appearances also doesn’t meaningfully combat aspirational thinness in our day-to-day lives, either.

“Talking about how you look fat, engaging in fatphobia, it’s all these things that are so normalized. And when I work with clients, that is the dangerous stuff,” she says. “I’ve never had a client sit down and say, ‘I got an eating disorder because I heard Demi Lovato had an eating disorder.’”

One big sign that the viral posts about celebrities aren’t helping people with eating disorders is that almost none of them share resources, such as links to groups like the National Eating Disorder Association. And many of the posts contain an undeniable strain of snark, cruelty, and carelessness. There are viral compilations of celebrity women with captions like “it’s not just Ariana,” most of which exclude celebrity men entirely. Some people have used AI tools to edit images of these women to make them appear obese and used them as memes, while others have analyzed every part of their bodies in photos to declare them too skinny.

Women in various stages of eating disorder recovery are actively grappling with the issue. Natália Franz, a Slovak actress, commented on one video about celebrities and eating disorders to say, “I wish more people were worried about me when I was not eating rather than normalizing it.”

Franz tells WIRED that she’s concerned about the influence celebrities have over their fans, and she’s hoping that the discourse can change the culture for her own daughter. She also says that her body image issues started at home and that parents need to be careful with how they talk about food and appearance around their kids.

“I actually think it's weird this heated discussion is only about one celebrity,” Franz says. “But when you see so many celebrities getting this thin, it’s very obvious patriarchy is on the rise.”

Having a personal history with eating disorders can provide a more informed perspective, as evidenced by some of the more nuanced conversations happening online. But the reality is that eating disorders are complicated, multifaceted, and different from person to person. Outsiders cannot infer what is going on privately in any celebrity’s life based on the limited information they share with the public, but that doesn’t stop people from labeling those in their inner circle “enablers” or assuming that a break from the public eye means they’re seeking treatment for an eating disorder.

“Talking about this in a heightened, gossipy, fearmongering kind of way is not necessarily going to inspire people to get help,” says Keesha Amezcua, chief clinical officer at Alsana Eating Disorder Treatment Center. “A lot of people on social media platforms are not informed, they’re not educated, and they don’t know what they’re witnessing and participating in is incredibly unhealthy and harmful.”

The National Alliance for Eating Disorders helpline provides resources about treatment options at 1-866-662-1235, or you can text “ALLIANCE” to 741741 if you are experiencing a crisis. More information can be found on the National Eating Disorder Association’s website.