Twenty-nine-year-old former child star Raven-Symoné “signed” her first modeling contract as an infant. In her stint co-hosting “The View” this week, she revealed the Hollywood pressure for a “perfect body” started early as well. She put on her first pair of Spanx, the form-fitting shapewear designed to tighten your curves, at age 14.
“I was a lot heavier when I was younger and when you’re heavy in the industry, you have to look a certain way. I used to put on two or three Spanx at a time and then a minimizer,” she said on The View. “My mom said, ‘You have to stop because you’re starting to look like a kielbasa.'”
According to E! News, Spanx has no recommended age restriction for their products. The manufacturers don’t care who buys their product, as long as it’s getting purchased. It’s up to us to decide if we let teenagers wear constricting shapewear.
Symoné and her costars expressed dismay at Spanx’s new slogan, “Don’t take yourself or the ‘rules’ too seriously. Reshape the way you get dressed, so you can reshape the world.” It’s admirable that Spanx has noticed the empowerment and body-positivity bandwagon, but the brand’s message doesn’t quite follow through. If people (Spanx also has a men’s line!) want to slim down, why not, and Spanx can certainly boost your confidence in a form-fitting dress, but you probably shouldn’t need to wear them to reshape the world. Kudos to Raven for leaving her “kielbasa” days behind.
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