Raven-Symoné, former “Cosby Show” child star and star of Disney’s now-canceled “That’s So Raven,” has lost a lot of weight and looks great. She sounds pretty snotty about it, though, although she’s always sounded that way. The last we covered Raven, she’d lost about 35 pounds in 2009. Now she’s lost even more weight, but says that she thought she “looked fabulous before and nobody else did.” She explained that she wears “bigger clothes” now “because I don’t like the way people stare” now that’s she’s thin. Why are her tits hanging out then? You think she would cover them up too if it bothered her so much.

If there’s one thing Raven-Symoné never lacked, it’s self-assurance.

The former Disney star, 25, who once contently called herself “thick and fabulous,” showed off a decidedly slimmer look at Wednesday’s People’s Choice Awards. Strutting her stuff in a cleavage-bearing, all-black leather ensemble with thigh-high Louboutin boots, Symoné says she was never one to consider herself unattractive when she was still heavy.

“I thought I looked fabulous before and nobody else did,” she tells PEOPLE. “So, whatever.”

If anything, Symoné, who just shot an ABC Family pilot called The Great State of Georgia, is not yet entirely comfortable with her new look.

“Actually, now I wear bigger clothes because I don’t like the way people stare at me,” she says. “I liked it before. Now, you’re just looking at me for the wrong reasons. Before, you were actually looking at me for a real reason.”

Either way, the onetime That’s So Raven star says she’s breathing a sigh of relief over no longer having to deal with her show – the strain of which, she says, contributed to her weight gain.

“That’s what stress does to you,” Symoné says. “I’ve been not stressing. I’ve been in my own house, decorating and finding hobbies.”

[From People]

Good for Raven, but she could tone it down a little. I get that she’s defensive because she got a lot of criticism when she was heavy, and she definitely struggled with that. Debbie Allen even called her a “little heifer,” but it was meant in an affectionate way. It must have been hard to be a larger person in the public eye. Raven made one more important change to her appearance. She fixed those jacked eyebrows.

Photo credit: WENN.com

10/1/10

9/21/10

8/28/10

Former Cosby Show child star Raven-Symone, 23, has spoken out in the past about criticism of her weight. Raven said in January of this year that she felt that she was beautiful at her size at the time, and called herself “thick and fabulous.” She said “I’m healthy, I exercise, I believe in myself, and I think I’m beautiful.” Although Raven claimed to be happy with her figure she did admit that body criticism can get to her, and said that she sometimes needs to call her best friend at the end of the day “and yell and scream and get it out.”

It looks like Raven has made some changes in her life. She was seen at an event a couple of weeks ago looking at least 35 pounds thinner, according to Star. They also include some nasty comments from a doctor who calls her before body “obese.” She was big before, but I wouldn’t classify her as “obese.” Maybe she was was, though:

Raven-Symone has always been frank about her weight struggles. “When I’m stressed, I gain,” she says. Judging from her appearance at the September 25 Teen Vogue party in LA, things are going great for the Disney star! Dr. Michael Aziz, author of The Perfect 10 Diet, believes the 5’2″ actress shed 35 pounds over the past few months. “Raven was obese,” Dr. Aziz tells Star. “Although she’s naturally a full-figured girl, she’s at a much healthier weight now.”

[From Star Magazine, print edition, October 19, 2009]

Raven looks great now. I know when I lose weight and people tell me I look good, I’m initially flattered but then I think about and am like “did I look like sh*t before, or what?” It’s like you can’t win either way, and you want people to notice but not make a big deal out of it. You do feel a lot more confident, though, and that carries over into every area of your life. Congratulations to Raven. I know I’d rather see her on the cover of a magazine than Khloe Kardashian. There’s something smug about Raven, although maybe I shouldn’t judge her based on the faces she makes in pictures. The fact that her bra is hanging out is also influencing my opinion of her.

Header images credit: Fayes Vision/WENN.com. Raven is also shown on 10/1/09 (studded jacket) credit: PRPhotos

Raven is shown in all black outfits “after” – she’s shown in a white blouse with black jumper and a green dress “before”

This one might get ugly, or maybe I’m overestimating how much people care. First, some background: Raven-Symone is famous for many things – the 23-year-old has been working pretty much non-stop from the age of four, when she began work on The Cosby Show. Her popularity grew from there into her teenage years and into young adulthood with roles in the Disney Channel’s mega-hits, The Cheetah Girls and That’s So Raven. That’s So Raven is still Disney’s highest rated and longest running show. She also produces some of her television project. And in addition to her acting and producing career, she’s has a solid music career.

Unfortunately, Raven-Symone is also famous for being the target of quite a bit criticism from bloggers and the mainstream media for her larger body. She’s even spoken out about the criticism she’s faced, calling her critics “haters” and her body “thick and fabulous.” In an interview this past January, Raven said: “People come up to me and have certain words for me, but you know what I do? I say, ‘I’m healthy, I exercise, I believe in myself, and I think I’m beautiful.’ You just have to learn how to transform the pressures into something that doesn’t soak into you on a personal level. You see it, you breathe past it, you don’t let it sink into your self-esteem.”

So will Raven defend herself against Debbie Allen’s recent comments? When Debbie was being interviewed about So You Think You Can Dance, Debbie expressed surprise that so many young people know who she is. Debbie pointed out that she’s been introduced to kids because she co-stars on That’s So Raven. When kids come up to Debbie, recognizing her and asking about Raven, Debbie says, “’Of course, I know that little heifer! I love that girl.”

Raven-Symone — who has received her share of criticism from online “haters” for her body — has found a new critic: Her Disney costar.

At a So You Think You Can Dance elimination taping Thursday in Los Angeles, Usmagazine.com caught up with That’s So Raven star Debbie Allen and asked her about the upcoming Fame movie, out Sept. 25. (Allen played Lydia Grant in the 1980s series.)

“It’s going to energize a whole new generation of young people who were not engaged in Fame the first time around,” Allen told Us. “It’s so funny we were talking about things coming full circle.”

She then told Us she is surprised that kids these days even know who she is. Then, she said, it dawns on her that she stars with tween sensation Symone in That’s So Raven.

Said Allen, “I was wondering how they knew me and then they say, ‘Do you know Raven?’ I’m like, ‘Of course, I know that little heifer! I love that girl.’”

In March Symone, 23, spoke with Seventeen at a self esteem workshop. She said she was “thick” ever since she was 9 years old. She said she would have benefited from workshops to cope with “that negative language” and understand that her life is “about me, not about what [people] want me to be.”

[From US Weekly]

I honestly don’t think Debbie meant anything mean-spirited. I think she was trying to relate a story, and she probably forgot that she might be stepping into a landmine of women’s body image issues. For all we know, that’s how Debbie and Raven talk to each other, like they have little nicknames for each other. Debbie’s nickname for Raven is “heifer” and Raven’s nickname for Debbie is “bitch who doesn’t know when not to refer to someone as a heifer.” Amongst close friends (and even family), I have participated in these kinds of nicknames – years ago, my roommate and I just referred to each other as “Slut” and “Whitey” (I was “Slut”). That being said, given the criticism Raven has already faced for her body, I think everyone should hold off on the heifer talk, even if it’s just a little inside joke.

Raven-Symone is shown on 10/28/08 (purple dress, credit: Fame Pictures), 2/9/09 (no paparazzi t-shirt, credit: Fame Pictures) and 4/17/09 (Toyota race, credit: WENN.com). She looks like she’s lost weight recently. Debbie Allen ais shown on 6/4/09 and 11/2/08. Credit: PRPhotos

Raven Symoné, the 23 year old star of Disney’s That’s So Raven, is a fuller figured young woman who claims not to let criticism of her body size get in the way of how she feels about herself. She says that people sometimes say rude things about her right to her face, but that she doesn’t let it get to her. Symoné is hosting a workshop sponsored by Dove to boost self esteem for tweens:

On Thursday, the singer-actress will be helping to boost some of her young fans’ confidence when she hosts a hundred 11- and 12-year-old girls at a Dove-sponsored self-esteem workshop in Cape May, N.J.

“It’s going to be so much fun,” the 23-year-old, who’s been working on her fifth album, tells PEOPLE. “We want to build their self-esteem and give them tools to face the world the next day without us there.”

The singer-actress has experienced her share of criticism – especially from online “haters” – for her body, which she’s called “thick and fabulous.”

“People come up to me and have certain words for me, but you know what I do? I say, ‘I’m healthy, I exercise, I believe in myself, and I think I’m beautiful,’ ” she says. “You just have to learn how to transform the pressures into something that doesn’t soak into you on a personal level. You see it, you breathe past it, you don’t let it sink into your self-esteem.”

And to enforce her positive mantra, if something’s got her down, Raven has a simple technique. “At the end of the day I’ll call my best friend and yell and scream and get it out,” she says. “And the next morning, it’s out of my system.”

[From People]

We need more larger-sized people in the public eye. There are plenty of underweight actresses, why can’t there be overweight actresses too? Yes it’s technically healthier to be fit and smaller, but there’s also nothing shameful in being overweight and too many people are afraid to fully live life at their current size. I know I’ve been in the trap of thinking that things will be better for me 10-15 pounds later, and that’s no way to live.

The sad thing about this story from Symoné is that even though she says that she’s strong and can deal with the criticism, she also admits she has to scream about it often to her best friend. How is that fair? Yes she could stand to lose some weight for her health, but what effect does that have on the people talking smack to her? We have people of all sizes in our society and while a certain shape is desired and healthier, that doesn’t mean we can’t accept people across the spectrum. It just makes me sad sometimes to see people suffering and to hear such cruel comments.

Raven Symoné is shown on 9/13/08 at a tribute to Patti LaBelle. Credit: WENN

Raven Symoné, the former child star who helped The Cosby Show jump the shark, penned a MySpace blog addressing the criticism about her weight and misshapen eyebrows. She seems to think that the best way to get her point across is in all caps. Raven, 22, was responding to negative stories that came out about her after she attended the Tinkerbell DVD premiere on Sunday. Our friends at Best Week Ever are among the blogs that mentioned her appearance, and commenters said at the time that it wasn’t fair to call her out for being a bigger young woman. Raven agrees and at first she wanted us to know about it – before she ended up regretting this caps lock rant and deleting it.

I WAS BORN WITH MESSED UP EYE BROWS, LOOK AT THE COSBY SHOW THEY GROW UPSIDE DOWN AND ON THE WRONG EYE. THAT IS MY PARENTS DOING AND MY BROTHER HAS THE SAME ONES. IM SORRY IF I WANT TO GO OUT ONE DAY AND NOT FILL THEM IN. IM SURE OTHER PEOPLE DONT GO OUT ALL THE TIME WITH THEIR FACE BEAT (MAKE-UP TERM, FLAWLESS MAKE UP). MY BODY SIZE; OOOHHH MY GOD!!!! HOW MANY YEARS HAS IT BEEN… IV BEEN ON TV FOR 21 YEARS, AND IV ALWAYS BEEN THICK…..OK!!!!
NOW IF ANYONE KNOWS MY FAMILY, ALL OF THE WOMEN EXCEPT FOR A FEW, STRUGGLE WITH KEEPING WHAT IS A SOCIALLY EXCEPT-ABLE WEIGHT. WHEN I STRESS I GAIN, WHEN IM HAPPY WHO KNOWS… I HAD A LOT OF PERSON THINGS HAPPEN TO ME AT THE END OF THE SHOW, DEALING WITH FAMILY, AND MY EX-BOYFRIEND CHEATED ON ME AND I HAD TO BREAK UP WITH HIM (LISTEN TO LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME, AND SECRETS) AND LIKE ANY FEMALE WITH A PROBLEM, DELT WITH IT A CERTAIN WAY! ID LOVE IF THE INDUSTRY COULD ONE DAY UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN OBESITY AND FAT AND THICK AND THIN AND SICK. I AM A THICK GIRL, I HAVE NEVER BEEN OVER A SIZE 12, I CAN RUN, AND I TRY MY BEST TO EAT RIGHT ALL THE TIME. I AM NOT THE TEXT BOOK WEIGHT THAT THEY SAY I SHOULD BE, BUT EVERYDAY I HAVE MY OWN PERSONAL STRUGGLES, AND I THINK THAT PEOPLE NEED TO RESPECT THAT.

[From Raven Simone's myspace via D-Listed]

Raven’s myspace (warning: link has automatic loud music) is now just a broken image and some of her very annoying music. I didn’t check it out yesterday but it looks like she took a page from the John Mayer school of celebrity blogging and deleted everything once she got some press for her blogging.

I feel badly for this girl because she seems like she was affected by the criticism and maybe we should be more aware of it, especially with younger celebrities like Symoné who may take negative comments to heart. You have to have a thick skin when you’re famous, but that doesn’t mean you’re not human and it doesn’t affect you.

Symoné last starred on the Disney show That’s So Raven from 2003 to the end of the show late last year. She was also on The Cheetah Girls. She has a how-to website, Raven Symoné Presents (link has automatic video) along with a music career with several albums out.

Hang in there Raven. You have fans and they’re not concerned about your weight or eyebrows. If you could learn to capitalize properly and not scream your writing you might earn some more admirers.

Update: It’s possible the blog entry supposedly written by Raven is a fake. As fancyfree points out below, her official myspace is still up. The myspace linked yesterday by sites referencing this story has been replaced, though. The other myspace could either be a secondary account from which she blogged or just someone trying to spoof her. It was in the “music” section of MySpace though – can anyone just get their account assigned there?

Raven Symoné is shown at the Tinkerbell DVD premiere on 10/19/08. Credit: Bauergriffinonline.