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Lili Reinhart on Feeling ‘Insecure’ About Her Body Image on the Set of 'Riverdale'


Since making her debut as Betty Cooper in 2017, Lili Reinhart has used her following to increase awareness about body image and mental health—including her own struggles. So when a Riverdale fan recently asked the actress on Twitter what it’s like belonging to one of TV’s most “chiseled” casts, Reinhart’s answer was an honest reflection on how the show has impacted her body image.

In a tweet that has since been deleted, a Riverdale fan pressed Reinhart to address her role among her “chiseled” co-stars. Reinhart responded, explaining that acting on Riverdale has made her feel “intimidated” and “insecure” in her own skin.

“Actually, not everyone on this show is perfectly chiseled. And even I feel intimidated by the physique of my surrounding cast mates sometimes when I have to do bra/underwear scenes,” she said. “I’ve felt very insecure due to the expectation that people have for women on tv, what they should look like.”

But Reinhart is trying her best to leave those expectations behind her. She continued, “I have come to terms with my body and that I’m not the kind of person you would see walking on a runway during fashion week. I have bigger boobs, I have cellulite on my thighs/butt, and my stomach sticks out rather than curves in.”

In a profession where women’s bodies are often scrutinized, Reinhart added that she’s felt even more insecure in recent months due to weight gain caused by her depression. But not everyone has the same body shape or size—and Reinhart’s hoping she can remind fans of that despite her “daily” struggles with body image.

“This is still something I struggle with on a daily basis,” she wrote, “and it doesn’t help when I’m being compared to other women. I have gained weight due to depression the last two months and I’ve felt very insecure about it. But I did a recent bra and underwear scene and felt it was my obligation to be strong and show confidence in myself, looking as I do. And I want other young women to see my body on tv and feel comfort in the fact that I’m not a size 0. And I’m not a perfect hourglass shape.”

Hours later, Reinhart spoke out again when online commenters insinuated the experiences she shared about her body image weren’t authentic. “How sad is it that I come forward about my insecurities and people have the audacity to tell me that my feelings aren’t valid,” she tweeted. “People like this, the ones who leave these ignorant comments, are the reason why people don’t speak out and end up struggling alone.”

She elaborated about the post again on her Instagram stories. “Imagine telling someone that their feelings are irrelevant and they should be quiet based on what you deem to be acceptable or not. Can’t relate,” she wrote.

@lilireinhart

It’s going to take more than a few Internet trolls to silence Reinhart. From her appearance at Glamour‘s Women of the Year Summit in 2018 to her recent CoverGirl campaign, she’s used her time in the spotlight to address difficult-to-discuss issues like acne, body image, and anxiety. The reason? She wants to make those conversations more positive for future generations, including her own children.

“I think about when I have kids in the future,” Reinhart said in her Glamour WOTY Summit speech. “Will my daughter be self-conscious about gaining weight? Will she feel the need to explain her body or justify it to anyone as it changes? Will she feel that same need that I do now—to apologize to her peers and say, ‘My body doesn’t usually look like this,’ or ‘I’m just a little heavier than usual right now’? How utterly ridiculous is it that we even think about explaining the nature of our bodies to other people?”

Fans can expect to hear even more honestly from Reinhart when her debut poetry collection, Swimming Lessons, arrives in May.



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Demi Lovato Opens Up About New Music and Body Image in Her First Interview in a Year


Since a reported overdose in 2018, Demi Lovato has been taking lots of time to focus on her health and her career. This weekend, she spoke at the Teen Vogue’s 2019 Summit in Los Angeles—her first interview in about a year—revealing that she’s slowly working on new music and hopes fans remember her for her music instead of for the difficult moments she’s faced recently.

During the interview, Lovato explained that the work she has been doing on her mental health has made her feel better and more connected with herself. “I think it’s been a very introspective year for me. I’ve learned a lot, been through a lot,” Demi said, per Teen Vogue.

She also got candid about her body image and how she’s working to recalibrate how she approaches body image.

“We hear the term body positivity all the time,” Lovato said. “To be honest, I don’t always feel positive about my body. Sometimes I do not like what I see. I don’t sit there and dwell on it. I also don’t lie to myself,” she said. “I used to look in the mirror if I was having a bad body image day and say ‘I love my body, you’re beautifully and wonderfully made.’ But I didn’t believe it. I don’t have to lie to myself and tell myself I have an amazing body. All I have to say is ‘I’m healthy.’ In that statement, I express gratitude. I am grateful for my strength and things I can do with my body. I am saying I’m healthy and I accept the way my body is today without changing anything.”

This isn’t the first time Lovato has gotten real about body image. In September, she shared an unedited bikini photo to Instagram saying she was “tired of being ashamed” about her cellulite. “I want this new chapter in my life to be about being authentic to who I am rather than trying to meet someone else’s standards,” she penned in the caption, continuing, “So here’s me, unashamed, unafraid and proud to own a body that has fought through so much and will continue to amaze me when I hopefully give birth one day.”

During the summit, the singer revealed that she’s also easing her way back into the career. “Genuinely I just want people to remember that I’m a singer. A lot of the things that have been through have [outshone] my success in the music industry. I just want people to remember that that’s what I want to give to the world, so please focus on that and not the other things,” she said, adding, “It’s important to remember that I am so cautious this time around of jumping back into things. I’ve really decided to take my time with things. When the time is right to release new music I will, and nobody is more anxious than me. “



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How One Fitness Trainer Overcame Disordered Eating and Finally Developed a Positive Body Image


Hi. I’m Amber. I’m a fitness trainer and one half of the Brave Body Project, an online community I started with my best friend Lindsey Claytonto inspire women to feel strong and powerful in their bodies and unite through health and fitness. This is the story of how I developed a positive body image and made peace with my body.

I grew up in a super athletic family. If it had a ball, we all played it. Because of that, I honestly didn’t really pay too much attention to my appearance as a kid. (You can get a good idea from my tragic childhood photos!) I got called “four eyes” a lot, but had a cool older brother so it was rare that anyone bullied me or else they had to deal with him. Plus I’m a twin, so I almost always had someone by my side who had my back. But overall, I kind of flew under the radar.

It wasn’t other people who made me feel insecure. The problems with my body image, to be honest, started with me. When I was in high school I found a passion for theater—specifically, musical theater, singing and dancing. It was the perfect outlet for me besides throwing a ball around on a court. As I got more into it, I was dancing so much that I was losing weight, but I was completely unaware of it. I suddenly had boys interested me. My first boyfriend made comments about my tiny frame. Then teachers and friends in school began to comment on my appearance. “Wow, you’re looking so thin.” “Amber, you are looking great!” “Look at your abs!” To be honest, I loved it. The attention was something I was not used to receiving. It made me much more aware of myself and how I looked. I began to think if I didn’t look a certain way, I would lose their approval. While all this was going on in my mind, my best friend at the time began battling anorexia. I tried to be as supportive as I could, but it was hard because I didn’t truly understand the issue. On the other hand, seeing someone who was so obviously thinner than a normal person over-analyzing every inch of her body made me question what might be wrong with me. At that moment, my relationship with my body (and with food) began to fall apart.

After high school, I went on to college to major in musical theater. My first semester, I got cast in the main stage show, and was dancing my face off. Then in the spring semester of my freshman year, I was not cast in anything. I was devastated. I gained the “freshman 15” and I hated myself for it. I created an issue with food. I would attempt to make myself throw up after I ate things I felt that I shouldn’t have. I felt untalented, which I thought directly related to my body—it was why I wasn’t getting cast in anything. I felt fat, sad and unhappy. No one told me this, I just did it to myself. I became my own worst enemy. I began eating to cope with my frustration with myself, then forcing myself to throw up. It was a terrible cycle, and I was a mess.

I came back my sophomore year wanting things to be different. So I went to the gym. By myself. It was strange at first, to not be on a court playing basketball, or a field working on my track skills, or even training with a team. So I started slow: I’d hop on the elliptical for 20 minutes a day. That grew to 30 minutes, which then grew to adding in some weights. It didn’t take long before I realized I felt amazing and confident and had some muscle. I was getting strong. Not many girls I knew had had defined biceps and shoulders! The best feeling was: I didn’t hate myself for it.

Once I had my gym routine down, I found that I felt a new attitude and became successful in school. I don’t think it was because of the way I looked— I think it was the confidence I gained. I had focus and structure in my life. After that year, you couldn’t tear me away from the gym. I moved to New York after college to continue my acting career, and it was a huge source of comfort to me to have the my gym workouts— they always brought me back to that place of confidence, focus and success.

When I was tired of waiting tables to support my theater career, I realized there were a lot of opportunities to take my gym workouts and make something of them in the fitness industry, so I started working as a personal trainer and group fitness instructor. That was almost eight years ago. Back then, the industry was an environment of protein shakes, salad, no drinking, no pizza, 8 hours of sleep—it was intense. And the goal was to have your shirt off in every photo or you wouldn’t belong. I’m a committed person, but I’ve always loved pizza, brunch and happy hour, so honestly, the thought of sacrificing all that was a challenge for me. The whole “you must look and act a certain way” thing brought me back to my high school days. Clients would say “I drank and ate a whole pizza last night so I will never like the way I want to look” or “I can’t do what you do because you’re so committed.” I wanted to say to them: I understand! I struggle too! I love pizza too! I’m my best self at brunch! But all I could do was smile and say, “well you need to cut out the fats and amp up the cardio!” Ew. I hate even thinking about it.

Then something changed. I broke my ribs and collapsed a lung while teaching an indoor cycling class. I could not teach—or work out, or lift anything, or even breathe. I was so upset with myself. I started making myself throw up again. A voice in my head would say Hello! You’re a fitness instructor! What are you doing!? But I felt so bad about my body. I was worried and frustrated that if I could not work out, and I could not do what I loved or progress in my career. Deep down, I was afraid that if lost muscle or gained weight that I would lose my job.

It was coming out of that low moment that my best friend Lindsey and I created the Brave Body Project. We both felt like there was a gap in the fitness scene that need to be filled. A safe place for being relatable and understanding. A place where pizza is welcome after sweaty workouts. I was recovering and finding balance. I also wasn’t the skinniest, or the strongest, or in the best shape of my life. But I felt happy with who I was, and learned to love the parts of my body that I used to stress over. Sometimes I have abs, and sometimes I don’t. It’s taken me a long time to accept that.

To say I don’t struggle with body image is bullshit. Everyone does. But I will say my biggest struggle that I personally fight to come to terms with is my constant thought of “I don’t look like I’m supposed to.” When those thoughts come in, I start to think about the things I love. The things I am thankful to have. We always tend to focus on the things we cannot do, the things we aren’t, and the expectations we aren’t fulfilling. It’s almost more challenging to celebrate the good, but it’s so necessary. That’s what gives us the confidence we need to have a different perspective on ourselves and others. So, I find myself saying, I am thankful for my strong legs, my wide shoulders, for getting a workout in today, for my Brave Body Project squad for celebrating something they’ve accomplished. “I don’t look like I’m supposed to?” Um… no. I’m supposed to look like me.



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This Fitness Trainer Explains How She Changed Her Body Image and Stopped Comparing Herself to Other Women


Hi. I’m Lindsey. I’m a fitness trainer and one half of the Brave Body Project, an online community I started with my best friend Amber Rees to inspire women to feel strong and powerful in their bodies and unite through health and fitness. This is the story of how I changed my own body image and learned to feel good in my own skin.

Before getting into fitness, I was a professional dancer. From the time I was three years old, my entire life revolved around dance. I wasn’t a ballerina—I was more of an athletic jazz dancer—so I didn’t ever fall into the trap that many ballerinas do of feeling the need to be super thin in order to “look the part.” I’ve had a strong, solid body my whole life. Honestly, I never really had body image issues or questioned my look or size growing up. I knew my body was meant to move and that was all I cared about.

When I was 18, I went on my first Broadway national tour with the show Grease. While on tour, we were required to do weekly weigh-ins with the costume department to make sure we didn’t gain weight. Gaining weight meant alterations—it was literally in our contract that we couldn’t lose or gain weight within five pounds of what we weighed when we were hired. That was the first time I felt like my weight even mattered. But suddenly it mattered a lot: there were going to be consequences for gaining weight.

Then, when I was 20, I was cast as the lead role in another national tour, for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. A few months before we were set to go to our first city, we took some promotional photos for the show. The day after the shoot, I got a call from the choreographer. She said I had gained weight since I was hired and both she and the director wanted me to lose 20 pounds before we started rehearsals in two months for the tour. I was devastated. I didn’t ever think of myself as overweight. But from one phone call, the way I thought about my body changed forever. I became extremely insecure. I started spending two hours a day in the gym and barely eating. I did lose the 20 pounds they asked me to by the time we started rehearsals. But I also lost my confidence. I was constantly comparing myself to the other women in the show, I felt ashamed of my body and I wasn’t comfortable in my own skin.

For years, this was my life. I would audition all day, obsessing over the other women in the room, and at night I would bartend to pay my bills, working until 3 or 4 in the morning. Between the brutal schedule and the way my self-esteem had changed, I was miserable. Then one day a friend asked me to come to a class with her at Barry’s Bootcamp. I loved it so much I was hooked after one class. I started going every single day. I soon realized teaching fitness was something I might be good at. I decided to get my group fitness certification so I could teach on the side while I was auditioning. I started teaching at a small fitness studio in downtown New York. I quickly moved up the ranks and became their head trainer. Before I knew it, I was skipping out on auditions to spend more time at the studio and spending all my free time learning about fitness and exercise science. After a few months, I realized I loved fitness and I wanted to be completely immersed in it. I decided to step away from theatre and pursue fitness full time.

Working at this studio, we had to physically do the classes with the clients so I was working out about four to six hours a day. I was definitely working out way too much, but I saw insane results. I had a six-pack. My legs looked amazing. My arms were toned. I was also tired all the time. I stopped getting my period. I was severely dehydrated. So, while my body changed and it looked “amazing,” it was totally breaking down and falling apart.

As my fitness career began, I still struggled with my habit of comparing myself other women, because the industry at that time was all about how you looked. Your body was your business card. That was hard for me, because even though I loved fitness I really was a normal girl who also liked pizza and booze and living life. Back then it didn’t feel like you could have both. Things were less about working out to feel good and more about working out to look good. “Summer body,” “bikini body,” and “skinny” were words that were tossed around all the time. Looking back, I don’t think I even did feel good. The sacrifice that goes into looking like that is pretty intense and, like I said, I like to enjoy life! If you’re always fighting for that end goal but not enjoying your day to day, what’s the point?

Luckily, things have changed—both for me and in the industry. Three years ago I had begun training for my first fitness competition when I fell and tore my ACL. It was one of the hardest times in my life. I had to have full reconstructive knee surgery and was in a brace for almost six months. I couldn’t run for nine months. It was so hard to have fitness taken away from me. I got depressed and lethargic. I basically lost hope during that time.

When I was finally cleared to run and move like I used to, it was so emotional. I remember crying on the treadmill the first time I was allowed to jog. We take our bodies for granted and we focus on how our body parts look more than what they can do. Going through that time made me so grateful for my body.

I wouldn’t wish that injury on anyone but it truly changed my life for the better. Brave Body Project came out of the ashes of my injury and an equally tough time for my best friend (and now business partner) Amber. We both wanted to shed a different light on the fitness/health/wellness scene and empower women by creating a support system where women could come to us to feel strong and inspired. I am truly grateful to have Amber as my best friend because she’s always there to lift each other me up and I can count on her for anything. Our passion lies in helping others feel strong and fit while learning to love the process and appreciate the beautiful body they have, and it’s done the same for us. I hope every woman finds a friend like her.

This year (particularly in the last six months!) has been a breakthrough time for me in terms of learning to love my body. I started thinking of myself as an athlete and it became a lot easier be happy in my skin. I ran in nine races this year, and next year I’m running the New York City Marathon. I’m so proud of my body and what it can do and it’s just such a waste of time to compare or get down on myself. I’ve vowed not to waste another second poking, weighing, or comparing. I tell my clients the same thing— if you’re focused solely on superficial things like having abs or looking good in a bikini, I think you’re missing the point. Once you retrain your brain to think of fitness and working out as something that will make you feel happy, strong, empowered, and alive, that’s when your confidence and beauty will truly shine through.

Now, when I have a negative thought about my body, I remind myself that this body has done so many incredible things. I remind myself that one time I couldn’t move at all and that could be taken away in an instant. Life is too short to hate yourself. I work out six days a week, I have a healthy relationship with food and I’m strong AF. If I feel bloated or “fat” one day, who cares. That’s life. I think I love being in fitness more than ever because when I decided to stop comparing my body to other women and use my voice to share what I thought being healthy meant—when I decided to be authentically me—that’s when everything came together for me. Amber and I have worked hard to show women that they can lift each other up and still succeed. And we’re going to keep building this tribe of boss babes who love their bodies and support each other.



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Rowan Blanchard Just Shared the Best Advice For Dealing With Body Image Insecurities


There’s a whole range of messaging we receive these days about our bodies, from the ever-present advertisements featuring Photoshopped “ideals” of what we’re “supposed” to look like, to the many, many bloggers and companies who, thankfully, champion body acceptance and positivity. But constantly blocking out insidious images and messages acting to undermine our confidence can be exhausting. Actress Rowan Blanchard shared the best advice with Coveteur recently about her ongoing journey with mental health and body image. Her words are wise and beyond necessary: She emphasizes that it’s not about being perfect or feeling perfect but just checking in with yourself and staying grounded in a world gone body-image crazy.

“I feel like a lot of how we think about health is with goals, whether that’s to lose weight, or to look…what’s marketed as ‘feminine’ or what’s marketed as ‘fit’. I try to think of it as what’s being healthy and what’s not being healthy,” she said, adding that although she’s aware of making healthy food choices, “I’m never over-conscious about it because I’m pretty young.”

In addition to smart guidelines like turning her phone off before bed, Blanchard’s advice to young women—though any age could benefit from it!—is pretty honest: “I feel that pressure to look a certain way, so I don’t feel totally exempt from this or like I have this figured out…I grew up with a lot of magazines that were marketed towards teens that had headlines about how you can lose weight, or how you can look ‘fit,’ or how you can get a ‘bikini body,’” she said. “Those types of headlines inherently breed that sort of self-loathing young women already have. Specific advice I give myself whenever I feel very insecure, or insecure about my body, or how I look in a dress—all of these things—I try to tell myself that a lot of it is in my head. This is a hard one, because I’m still a teenager who’s insecure every day.”

She also adds that if you find yourself struggling with a hangup, you’re not alone. As Blanchard said, “No matter how I’m feeling, there is another person in the world that feels exactly how I feel in the moment. I think we often forget that we’re a part of such a grander thing.”

Um, preach, Rowan Blanchard. And I’m not even a teenager.

Related Stories:
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–This Woman Put on Differently Sized Pants To Make a Statement About Body Image



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