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Good For You, Jewel! Being Called A ‘Chubby Renee Zellweger’ Made You Stronger, Not Weaker!
The “Who Will Save Your Soul” singer didn’t let criticism get her down – it made her realize that she should love who she is!
Most of us let catty remarks about our appearance get us down in the dumps for days, and Jewel was no different – until she realized that the only person who could make her feel really good was herself.
After being labeled the “chubby Renée Zellweger” in a newspaper article, she went down a bad road where she tried to actually tried to throw up to make herself slim. “My feelings were so hurt by that story, I ended up bingeing on an entire cake,” the 35-year-old singer says in the new issue of Shape magazine. “Afterward, I actually tried to throw it all up, but thankfully I couldn’t do it. It made me think, ‘I can’t go down this road.’ I had seen so many performers develop eating disorders or try to control their weight with drugs, and I decided I would do no harm to my body.” For years Jewel says she had a love/hate relationship with food. “It became a self-fulfilling prophecy. The worse I felt about myself, the more I overate.”
Another blow? She scored her role in Ang Lee‘s 1999 film Ride With the Devil because of her teeth, but not for the most flattering of reasons. “I asked Ang, ‘Why me? You could’ve had anyone you wanted.’ And he said, ‘You have period teeth.’ So I got the job because I was the only actress in Hollywood who hadn’t gotten her teeth fixed!”
But instead of letting these body flaws get her down, Jewel fought back and began to love herself.
“I had to remind myself that standards of beauty are very fickle. One minute J. Lo‘s body is considered beautiful, and the next everyone wants to look like Kate Moss. I’m all for people wanting to feel more confident, but altering your body to fit a current trend is serious stuff.” The singer pauses, then says with a laugh, “We should be more like men, God bless ’em. They can take their shirts off and show their man boobs, and they don’t give a hoot. But women are so critical of themselves. We can be gorgeous and hot and still be embarrassed to wear a tank top. So if you can’t stop looking in the mirror, at least try to not think badly about yourself when you do.”
