You know the scene in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy whips back the curtain and realizes that the wizard on that big screen wasn’t real, and that the truth was much more…regular? That’s been 2017 in a nutshell, only the big screen was the little screen on your phone and the wizard was everyone faking flawlessness on Instagram. If this year’s been about anything, it’s been about people—both ordinary and famous—finally yanking back the curtain on social media to reveal a more honest picture.
Over the past few months, we’ve witnessed celebrities taking ownership of their image in a way that’s better for us all. From Brie Larson’s excellent handling of a super-sized zit to Hilary Duff’s beautifully written Instagram post about the excessive level of scrutiny celebrity mothers face, these moments of realness aren’t only refreshing, they changing the way in which we see ourselves. And they’re also challenging advertisers, casting directors, and the media to do the same. If being a “celebrity” no longer means upholding unrealistic ideals of nonstop perfection, it gets easier to accept that our bodies are not flawed—they’re human.
No shade to the feel of freshly shaven legs, or, you know, the concept of concealer—but it’s time for representation of choices across the board. That’s where these 17 celebrities come in.
As much as we all talk about our love for bushy brows, there’s still an unspoken rule that brows are to be brows, plural. Yara Shahidi is here to flip that narrative on its head with her absurdly adorable tribute to her uni. If only we had a role model like her when we were 17.
Hilary Duff has also proudly displayed her cellulite via social media, taking on body shaming—and the idea that celebrity mothers should look a certain way—with a photo showcasing her legs.
Jessica Simpson might not be the first name you think of when talking body positivity, but as the clothing mogul and former reality TV star proved with a July photo of her leg hair, she’s fully on board. Simpson casually wrote, “Missed a spot…” Fans were here for it, identifying hardcore. Mornings are hard.
PHOTO: Snapchat / @bellathornedab
Bella Thorne was arguably on the forefront of 2017’s push for body hair self-acceptance, with an Insta of her leg hair blowing the topic wide open in June. Via Snapchat, she wrote, “Ok fine. I’ll shave,” but this was no peer pressure moment. Thorne’s been speaking out for her grooming choices since 2016, and whether livestreaming a bikini wax or clapping back on Twitter, she’s demonstrated you can engage with different perspectives while standing your ground.
Likewise celebrating her authentic self, Brooklyn Decker once asked her Instagram followers to play count-the-chins—and now her son’s gotten into the game. She captioned this ‘gram: “The moment your child grabs your neck skin and laughs “gobble gobble!” Thank you, @krissyae for capturing this on camera??”
Elizabeth Banks’ honesty and sense of humor are always a bright spot, but especially when she’s taking on self-image. Banks used a #TBT moment to get real about her self-esteem, writing, “Acne. Frizz. Haircuts by my friend @sorayaweddings and homemade jewelry cuz money was tight.”
She continued: “Like now, I had days when I felt beautiful and proud and days when I felt low and despondent. Like now, I mostly tried not to worry about what I look like because I also have a powerful brain, lots of abilities, kindness and creativity and at the end of the day, those inner qualities are what I value the most about myself. But yeah, looking fine feels good too so, ya know, #balance The thing I know now that I didn’t back then is that any energy I put into looking cute has to be about me and not about pleasing or attracting anybody else. Being praised for my looks is nice but not nearly as satisfying as being praised for my accomplishments or deeds.”
Honestly, the lasting memory from this winter’s Superbowl performance has to be Lady Gaga’s iconic, much-memed jump from the stadium. But here’s a lesser-known fact: after her incredible performance, people online started criticizing Gaga’s stomach.
Gaga, hero that she is, was not here for it, and turned it into a powerful moment for body positivity. She wrote: “I heard my body is a topic of conversation, so I wanted to say, I’m proud of my body and you should be proud of yours too. No matter who you are or what you do. I could give you a million reasons why you don’t need to cater to anyone or anything to succeed. Be you, and be relentlessly you. That’s the stuff of champions.”
Similarly confident and always one to celebrate her human side, Tyra Banks pointed out what she called her “juicy muffin top” in this photo from a shoot (hashtag #perfectisboring).
Classic nightmare fodder: you wake up the day before a huge event with the pimple to end all pimples. Naturally, you load that sucker up with all the zit treatments your medicine cabinet has to offer—and wake up to a spot that’s gotten aggravated, gone Hulk, and doubled in size. If you’ve ever lived through that, the good news is, you and Brie Larson have it in common. She’s posted her version of the tale, saying, “When you’re stressing/obsessing over a zit so you put on too much zit cream before bed and wake up to giant dry spot but you gotta get your photo taken anyway. ???” The woman’s a pro. Look at that graphic design.
Ashley Graham’s rise has been both inspirational and a long, long time coming. Between nabbing a Sports Illustrated cover, web series, teasing a makeup line, and speaking out as a body-positive icon for women of all sizes, Graham has a ton of irons in the fire. But at the core of everything remains her dedication to giving her best effort, and an honest representation of the not-perfect day-to-day that entails. Her caption on this Instagram summed it up: capturing her stretch marks, Graham wrote, “I workout. I do my best to eat well. I love the skin I’m in. And I’m not ashamed of a few lumps, bumps or cellulite.. and you shouldn’t be either.”
It’s hard to look at Gabrielle Union and not see a crazy beautiful unicorn frozen in time, but she too runs into funny (read: annoying) skin hijinks. No zit should get in the way of celebrating a fresh haircut, so Union captioned her newly-blond selfie with, “Loving the new do… My zit also loves it ?”
Along with the period acne Insta related to ’round the world, Chrissy Teigen once posted this photo prominently displaying some stretch marks (plus thigh bruises she got while working in the kitchen). “Stretchies say hi!” reads her caption. Teigen’s very publicly not afraid of the Internet’s attention. She regularly posts makeup-free photos that, each time, give us life.
It’s good to be reminded that even stars can’t conquer acne—and that Lorde might actually reach for the same pale pink spot treatment that we do (Mario Badescu’s Drying Lotion, also known as liquid gold).
PHOTO: Instagram / @ashleybenson
Joining her on the light pink pimple cream train, Ashley Benson recently posted this shot on her Instagram story.
Real Housewives of New York City star Bethenny Frankel recently took the acne selfie a step further, pointing out a full-blown pimple in all its glory during her book tour.
In what appeared to be legit no-makeup moment, Zooey Deschanel shared how she looks first thing in the morning, complete with some dark undereye circles.
As a confident woman unafraid of sharing her opinions with the world, Lena Dunham takes a lot of crap online. The strength it takes to stay vulnerable and honest through that is no joke—but when a round of medicine triggered rosacea on her face, Dunham says her self-esteem was shaken in a big way.
“Seven years of being treated in the public eye like a punch line about female imperfection may not have felt like it was wearing me down, but it had actually forced me to rely emotionally on my one area of fully conventional beauty: my perfect f-cking skin,” she wrote in Lenny Letter. In the aftermath, she says, “I have been forced to finally mourn the long, slow hit on my self-image. I thought my adolescent attitude, the take-no-prisoners approach to my own look and form, could carry me through the onslaught of critical attention. I thought I could intellectualize it away. But I can’t.”
But in classic Dunham form, she’s using her spotlight to draw attention to something universal. Per Dunham, accepting your “flaws” is important, but the process is a beast, and that fact deserves recognition as well. She wrote, “I’m starting to believe that speaking this pain aloud isn’t just good for my own healing: it allows any young woman who might be watching to understand that nobody is immune from feeling bad about hateful attention. If it took spelling my pain across my face to admit it, then so be it. I’m oddly grateful. ‘I don’t give a shit’ only translates into isolation; it prevents the people who love you from reaching out their hand to remind you of what’s real.”
Related Stories:
–Alessia Cara Took Off Her Makeup on Stage at the 2017 VMAs for the Best Reason
–Nina Dobrev Is Done With Unrealistic Beauty Standards
–Yara Shahidi Is Changing the Way I Think About My Unibrow
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