Miley earlier this year
Don’t call me fat.
How would you respond to taunts by strangers about your weight? Probably, you’d be mortified. And perhaps Miley Cyrus was. But then she got angry.
(We covered this story briefly yesterday in news but the response was so huge we wanted to go into a little more detail.)
According to the ABC news network in the US:
“Pop superstar Miley Cyrus has shown off her body in music videos and racy photos, but lately, the 18-year-old singer and actress has been on a weight rollercoaster. Her fuller figure has some critics saying she’s lost control of her body.
Now the former Hannah Montana star is firing back at her critics, on Twitter.”
Last week, Miley hit Twitter and sent this photo of an anorexic woman (below) to her 3.6 million followers to make a statement about the ‘fat’ taunts:
This is what Miley tweeted
With the picture, she wrote this:
And later that same day she later posted this picture of Marilyn Monroe.
The picture of Marilyn Monroe tweeted by Miley
Quick to show her support to Miley was 19 year old Disney star Demi Lovato, who has previously spoken about her battles with eating disorders and has also been called ‘fat’ by media, bloggers and anonymous online haters.
Demi tweeted these three replies:
Both young stars fielded thousands of positive replies on Twitter, with Miley replying to one of them with this:
“I don’t wanna be shaped like a girl I LOVE being shaped like a WOMAN & trust me ladies your man wont mind either 
”
Here’s a gallery of said ‘fat’ Miley. FFS.
Miley Cyrus
Comments
61 Comments so far
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I’m with annab, respect for Miley just went through the roof. She’s in the perfect position to be intimidated by society into being skinny, but she’s standing firm and being what she is. Good on her.
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Wow, good on her! The ‘tween’ generation need a role model (who is their own age) to tell them it’s OK to look the way they do. I applaud Miley for taking a stand on the issue. I really feel for the current generation of teenage girls – I thought we had pressure as Gen Y’s reading ‘Girlfriend’ and ‘Dolly’ but there is soooo much more pressure to be perfect and ‘celebritised’ these days.
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Disagree about Dolly. I remember Dolly between 2000-2003 had pretty much every issue and they constantly gave the message that there was no “normal” size, always put things in perspective with world issues and spread positivity. Didn’t read Girlfriend but I loved Dolly for its depth
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My respect for Miley Cyrus has sky-rocketed after reading this. This further cements my arguements against 13 year old models, not only can it not be healthy for the young girl herself, but for all the adult women who are being told by the fashion industry and the complicit media that a 13 year olds body is the ideal it is totally unrealistic and dangerously unhealthy.
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Bring back curves! Allow us to stop punishing ourselves with stupid controlling diets & rigorous gym routines that might make us fit into a size 8 for a moment, but fill us with self-loathing as soon as we start to stretch the seams! Encourage healthy lifestyles, & allow women & men to be comfortable & rejoice in the beauty of everyone being naturally different! Good to see a young woman keeping it in perspective!
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Oh well done MIley!! Let’s hope all her young fans really take in her message. It’s beyond stupid for the media to be calling a slim, healthy young woman like her fat
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That has to be one of the hottest pics of Marilyn Monroe I’ve ever seen, including the rudie-nudie ones…
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I’ve always liked Miley. I have a few of her songs (guilty pleasure) and I really respect that she is proud about her faith yet not preachy about it. She wrote a song supporting the LGBT community .Pretty impressive for a Southern Baptist who is such a huge role model.
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I have problems with some of Miley’s choices but for this I will hive her another chance! You go woman!
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I agree with Miley aside from her saying, “I love being shaped like a WOMAN” which suggests that the weight some people want her to be isn’t womanly. As a very thin woman, I’ve always hated it when people say thin women look like young girls/boys.
Other than that, though, good on her.
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I may be wrong but I think Miley was talking about HER body needing curves to be womanly. Seeing as we’re best mates and all.
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no… “& trust me ladies your man wont mind either
”
makes me think she meant that for everyone else’s bodies. Unless she wants all of our men herself. haha
But Shannon, you can’t say that you hate it when people say thin women look like young girls then use the words “which suggests the weight some people want her to be isn’t womanly” – shouldn’t everyone be staying away from telling anyone else what weight they should or shouldn’t be?
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Re: shouldn’t everyone be staying away from telling anyone else what weight they should or shouldn’t be?
Definitely! I didn’t mean for it to sound like I thought otherwise. For example, some people want me to be bigger – I’m not going to be bigger, but in saying that I’m not going to conform to their expectations I’m not going to say that people who are bigger than me (i.e. people who are the weight others expect me to be) are less attractive/valuable/healthy than I am. We’re different and that’s okay. Does that make sense? Not sure if I’m explaining my viewpoint properly.
So what I’m saying is that you can reject someone’s notion of what you *should* look like, but at the same time not marginalise those people who *do* look like that. I don’t need to say that what I’m like is preferable in order to defend my being content with my body, because everyone is built differently and has the right to be equally content.
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OK this maybe beside the point but even when i was supremely underweight my thighs still touched grrrrrr just saying. I love the fact that she when on th attack rather than the defensive. While it may be counterproductive to talk about body shapes in relation to what men like ultimately that is why historically woman had striven to be beautiful was to get a mate so some times it can be hard to separate the two.
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wow respect for Miley just skyrocketed! It’s so inspirational to have someone like that my age be so confident about her body, especially in image-obsessed L.A. Good on her, I want to give her a huge hug. Skinny and curvy, she was beautiful both ways as long as she was healthy and happy!
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Wow isn’t she an inspiration she is! Go Miley.
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Oh poor Miley. She’s a young woman. I remember being her age and going on the pill made me put on a few kilos really quickly. Cant imagine the horror of having small weight fluctuations splashed across the media.
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While I applaud Miley’s reaction, I only wish her responses weren’t framed in terms of how men perceive weight – men like curvy women, therefore curvy is good etc.
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Amen! Im a stick figure and trust me – if you dont live in Hollywood its no fun. All the guys want is big boobs and all I get is people telling me to eat more and making anorexic jokes behind my back (btw im totally healthy)
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As my other half says, my curves are the best bit! Good on Miley, I hope she manages to stick to her guns. Too many gorgeous curvy women have ended up stick figures over time.
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Wow. Fat pictures? I’m not seeing it…
On a related side note, I was given Women’s Health magazine by my husband recently, and on the cover is Stephanie Gilmore, the surfer. She is obviously astoundingly fit and good looking, and I have seen lots of pics of her recently, but don’t remember her being quite so tall and “stretched” looking. Can someone more expert than me tell me if she’s been photo shopped??
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Looks like some of her right hip is missing…
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i think it is rare that a cover is not photoshopped- so it would be safe to assume that she has been
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I used to know someone who worked in graphics on this magazine & as the other comments have said it’s probably safe to say there’s been something altered.
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She’s gorgeous and didn’t need ridiculous altering like this magazine has done. She’s much wider than that and that should be okay!
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The thing that got me was that this is supposed to be a HEALTH magazine! FFS! I was so disappointed, because the woman is an athlete, she is at peak physical fitness, and still the people who run these things can’t stand to have her represent what is meant to be a magazine about health and fitness.
Maybe I’m just really naive, but I thought this was one arena where we could see some reality.
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My respect for Miley Cyrus just went from zero to ten in under a minute!
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I was looking at the pics waiting for the fat shot to appear, and there were none
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So, when did we slip into an alternative universe where a slim, healthy looking young girl is considered “fat”?
I’ve never taken much interest in teen stars, but she just got my full attention for behaving like a mature woman and handling this so well.
Whoever sets the fat-standard that low must really hate women
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Good on her!! I love how she hasn’t even validated the comment by arguing with it, she’s just pointed out the honest effect of calling people like her fat. The effect it has on others, not her.
She has just gained so many more fans, myself included.
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It makes me sad because it seems that the perception is that the absolute worst thing you can be as a girl is fat. I know for a fact that there are far far worst things you can be – like mean or thoughtless or racist.
I am so impressed with Miley and weirdly a little bit proud.
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I totally agree. JK Rowling said a similar thing.
“Is ‘fat’ really the worst thing a human being can be? Is ‘fat’ worse than ‘vindictive’, ‘jealous’, ‘shallow’, ‘vain’, ‘boring’ or ‘cruel’? Not to me.”
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My daughter and I went along to the Miley concert this year and I took notice of her womanly figure. I appreciated seeing it and my daughter watching a young woman who was active, healthy and putting it out there…and in a couple of her stage costumes she was putting it out there but that is a different post altogether.
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You could re-label that Marilyn Monroe pic as “millions of men” rather than just thousands. I have yet to come across a man who does not think she was the bomb.
Miley is not fat but if you stood her next to Victoria Beckham she would look big and I think that is the problem with celebrity – the view of what is normal and healthy is so distorted by excessive exposure to extremely skinny women. Sadly, I don’t think MM would get a look in today.
Good on Miley for speaking up
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It’s bad enough that ‘haters’ hate, but when you have a supposedly credible network like ABC NEWS saying “but lately, the 18 year old singer & actress has been on a weight rollercoaster”… that’s sick. You’d think these “adults” were hoping for another train wreck.
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I like her a lot more now!
Just FYI it’s Marilyn Monroe, not Munroe
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I can’t believe how anyone could possible call Miley fat. Absolutely ridiculous! I’ve never been a massive fan of hers, but I admire her for using this as an opportunity to tell the young girls that idolise her being skinny isn’t as important as it is to be healthy, and to love who you are!
http://www.thebeautyblot.wordpress.com
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My opinion of this little lady (not that mine matters to her) has gone up ten fold!
Good on her!
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good lord, she is not even remotely fat. not even chubby. not even puppy fat!
some of the clothing choices are a bit ugh, but she is not fat by any stretch of imagination!
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JEEEZAS I am shamoo if she is fat ! Good for her fighting back. No one should comment on the way anyone looks but to attack a young woman like that is just awful. Im so sick of a womans value being based in looks its archaic and its ridiculous. Its time to wake up and smell the chocolate cake girls men like curves !
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I must say I was mightily impressed by Miley’s comments – go girl! Despite what has been said about her in recent years I actually think she has brains and substance. Good on her.
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Good on her!!!!!!
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Not a fan of her music, but this girl is gorgeous.
And I love her response – very mature. I have 10 years on her and if I was publically being labelled fat, I’d most probably have a breakdown (sad, but true).
By the way, so sick of the media even calling attention to the so-called weight battles of celebrities. I love my trashy mags as much as the next girl, but could do without the yellow circles around Reese Witherspoons “love handles” or arrows helpfully pointing out Kim K’s cellulite. Enough!
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I love her response too – and to give the media my message – I stopped buying all those trashy mags!! I think they only print it because we keep buying them.
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this girl doesn’t love trashy mags, so you must love them a whole lot more than the next girl!
I’d tell you what I think of them and of people who buy them, but that would offend.
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wow what a strong girl to go on the attack like that. She is damm right – good on her…DO NOT want to see her in a few months or years having lost 10kg ..oooo i did it all for my health just i cut out white bread….
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Why is it that we are constantly delivered in the media one extreme or the other? Thin vs fat. If you’re not one, then you’re the other, and neither likes each other! Why can’t we all just get along?!
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Are you kidding me? Miley has an amazing beautiful body and power to her for loving it as it is!
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I wish I was that fat.
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Me too!
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Good on you Miley! The tabloid media is a blight on humanity and really need to think about the things they say in their drive to create ‘news’.
She is is no way fat and even if she was, it’s none of anyone’s freaking business.
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Jesus – I’m obese then!
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Good for you, Miley! Love that she chooses to fight back rather than starve herself.
p.s. Pretty sure it’s Marilyn “Monroe”…xx
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Jeez, if Miley is fat, the what DOES that make me? And I am a grown adult! But then my mothering brain says “oh, no, obese children” … where the hell is the balance in the media? Where is the “ideal shape” according to the standard setters?
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i fear that the standard setters are not doctors or mothers or women, but gay men in the fashion industry. They are not motivated by the health of a 14 year old girl, but money and adoration. Not all gay men of course, but some at the top of fashion, and some women too obviously…eg karl lagerfeld
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I think the word ‘fat’ is becoming a general-purpose insult, like ‘stupid’ .
I like Miley’s approach here, there really is no comeback at all.
Overall, colour me impressed.
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Going out on a limb here – she has a fantastic figure, but the girl smokes, and that to me doesnt exactly paint a full picture of loving your body. That doesnt paint a picture of a good role model to me – ‘I love my body for what it is, but i like to suck down tar and chemicals…’
Not buying it.
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I don’t think her smoking in any way detracts from the message about weight.
I think that smoking for some people has very little to do with some deep dark secret hate for their body. We like to pathologise it by calling it an addiction, or give it a dark quality by associating it with a deeper reason, such as unconscious hate.
For some people it is simply a habit, or simply a choice.
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okay so I’ve never really rated Miley Cyrus.
But now? She’s got me thinking she might have some substance.
Good for her.
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What an amazing inspiration! Say what you want about Miley, her songs, her outfit choices, what she is doing with this is fantastic.
Nothing speaks better to teenagers than images, and posting those photos to show the difference between sexy and anorexic is great.
Hopefully she continues to hold her head high and encouraging young girls to love their bodies, because so often they can only take it so long before they cave in a lose a bunch of weight. Then the media attacks them for that!
I know I would not be strong enough to maintain my self esteem and love for my body if strangers were trashing me in the media everyday!
Well done Miley, you have your head screwed on right.
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Are you SHITTING me?! How can people call her fat? She’s got a lovely figure, and on top of that looks healthy, glowing and happy. That is so f*cked up, seriously.