Lily James’s Cinderella waist is ‘natural,’ plus a corset & a liquid diet

cinderella

A few weeks ago, I covered the ongoing controversy with Lily James’s Cinderella waist. Disney had released several official images from their new live-action film, and one of the images (the header image of this post) seemed to be CGI’d or Photoshopped to give Cinderella an extra-tiny waist. There was much talk of feminism, body image, what we’re teaching our little girls, etc, etc. But Lily James says that she really does have a naturally small waist and she was wearing a tight corset, of course. Oh, and she also says that she had to go on a liquid diet to get a waist like that, so… mixed messages. Some assorted quotes from Lily James:

Naturally small waist: “I naturally have a really small waist. And on top of that, I have a corset that was pulled me [within an] inch of my life … The skirt’s big and the corset pulls me in, and that’s the point. That’s the shape [costume designer] Sandy Powell created.”

She could barely eat when she wore her costume: “When [the corset] was on we would be on continuous days so we wouldn’t stop for lunch or a lovely tea like this—you’d be sort of eating on the move. In that case, I couldn’t untie the corset. So if you ate food it didn’t really digest properly and I’d be burping all afternoon in [Richard Madden]’s face, and it was just really sort of unpleasant. I’d have soup so that I could still eat but it wouldn’t get stuck.”

The controversy about her waist: “I think it’s all very hypocritical, and they contradict themselves, and they’re drawing more attention to it. I think all that stuff’s so negative, and you’ve got to let it wash over your head. I’m so healthy. I’ve got hips and boobs and a bum and a small waist.”

Promoting a healthy body image: “For girls growing up sometimes I think they get the wrong idea for what women should look like. And I think it’s so important to be healthy and confident and natural. And not put too much stress on trying to be thin—I don’t get the thin, thin thing at all. I’m actually finding it really hard not to eat right now.”

[From E! News]

Well… I think she’s mostly right, I guess. She’s a small girl overall, and yes, she does have a naturally small waist. The corset made her even smaller, of course. I’m unclear about whether she went on an all-liquid diet to fit into the corset and costumes or whether she could only drink her food because there was no room in the corset for solid food. But I think there was probably some post-production magic done on some of the Disney images and perhaps in the film too.

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Photos courtesy of Disney, WENN.

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54 Responses to “Lily James’s Cinderella waist is ‘natural,’ plus a corset & a liquid diet”

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  1. RocketMerry says:

    Yeah, the images were still ‘shopped. But good on her for facing the controversy, trying to defuse it and standing by the movie, producers certainly will love her for it. Very professional.

  2. bette says:

    THat waist doesn’t look humanely possible…

    I hope LJ acts better than she did in Downton Abbey.

    • FLORC says:

      The picture used has a weird angle so it’s even smaller than a front image as opposed to this twisting at the waist.

    • deehunny says:

      It’s funny because when they first introduced her character I was annoyed with her but now I think she’s OK

    • Lauren says:

      My waist looks much smaller from that angle than in full frontal. You get that effect when you have a curved back.
      That + the big skirt + corset. Never thought it looked that extreme really…

  3. savu says:

    Yeah she’s really tiny. And I do think she was a little altered via Photoshop.

    What I don’t understand is why. She’s already very small, having such a full skirt without a corset or Photoshop would make her waist tiny already. Why push it?

    Of course it’s always uncomfortable discussing women’s bodies and making judgments. I eat like total crap, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told to “eat a sandwich”. There are women who just are small naturally, and I don’t want to see that demonized. But should the industries presenting women only show one type of them? No.

    • Lucy2 says:

      I don’t get that either- her actual figure would have looked great in that dress, there was no need for the corset, or at least not one that was that tight. It sends a terrible message to their target audience.

      • Santia says:

        That’s what I came on here to say: they could have created beautiful dresses for an “average” body and — wow – the message THAT would have sent: “you are perfect as you are.” What a missed opportunity. Especially for the millions of little girls who are going to watch this movie.

  4. GoodNamesAllTaken says:

    I got the impression that she could only eat soup while the corset was on during filming. I wouldn’t call that a liquid diet, but maybe I misunderstood. She does have a naturally small waist, so I’m not sure they needed to use a corset to make it look weirdly small.

    • Esmom says:

      That’s exactly how I read it, too. She made it sound like she tried to eat real food but it didn’t work while wearing the corset and soup was the only thing that went down easily.

    • littlemissnaughty says:

      Yep, I didn’t read it as a liquid diet to lose weight either.

      That picture is photoshopped, there’s no doubt about it. If you look at her shoulder-to-waist-ratio … that’s not just a corset. Whatever it was, Photoshop or the corset, they went for a completely unnatural look but why are we surprised? It’s Disney. What I don’t understand is why lie? By now we can all detect Photoshop from a mile away so why bother?

      • GoodNamesAllTaken says:

        I don’t know why they would make it so small, except that they draw their women that way in animated films and wanted to replicate that look? And you’re right – why lie? She could have just refrained from commenting.

      • littlemissnaughty says:

        I would hate to think that they wanted to replicate that animated look but it’s entirely possible, you’re right. And I’m rarely offended by Photoshop anymore, it’s so commonplace. No image in any magazine or ad is un-photoshopped and we know this. So I just assume it’s unnatural. But I am definitely offended when they lie so blatantly because then they cross the line to insulting (for me). Like Beyoncé and her offensive thigh gap. Also, I’m not sure why this girl thinks her explanation of how the waist was achieved would be better than Photoshop. If you cannot digest food, it’s probably not a great method.

    • FLORC says:

      GNAT
      Rumors were filtering about this movie and her waistline for a while. Her soup was broth and softened celery, carrots, and onions. Nothing solid like chicken or noodles. And she would have about 1 fl/oz cup every 3 hours. That was the story that was out before the waistline photos became big news. The rest was water and protein shakes. When not filming. Also, a point was made the costume was so tough/time consuming to get on and off she wouldn’t drink much during the day so bathroom trips could be avoided.

      What gets me about these images is the skirt to small waist ratio would have already looked about the same. This corset pushes it over the limit imo. It’s distracting.

      She handled the question well. And she is healthy overall. For purposes of this image she needed for the film she wasn’t on a normal diet. It seems it was almost entirely liquid base for filming. Or that’s what all the stories were before this became big news.

  5. Amy says:

    Maybe I’m not seeing it but the photos of her doing press for the movie don’t display a naturally small waist. She has a natural curve but nothing that fits her line of reasoning.

    Now do I believe corset + liquid diet? Yup.

    That being said I really hate the trend of ‘shapers’ going around. Cinderella is a period piece but we’ve got so many women lately shrinking their waist down to nothing desperate for a visual effect and completely ignoring their organs.

    I’m the kind of person to shrug and let people face their consequences but for some reason this one makes me very worried for the general public. I just see so much…damage in the future.

    • GoodNamesAllTaken says:

      I don’t get that trend, either. I don’t even think it’s attractive, and it’s certainly unhealthy. Nature made our bodies so beautiful, in so many shapes. Why do we torture that for “fashion?”

  6. t.fanty says:

    Oh, yeah. Starving and corsetry is much better than Photoshop. Thanks for clearing that up.

    • kibbles says:

      Exactly. I find the liquid diet more disturbing than Photoshop. This is what girls will see and believe is naturally beautiful. An already thin woman wearing a corset and not eating solids to achieve a small waist. This is a very unnatural and unhealthy image to be promoting to children.

    • Kitten says:

      Right? She’s effin annoying.

  7. GlimmerBunny says:

    My little sister (7 years old so part of the target audience for the movie) loves her dress and look, but I don’t think she even notices the size of her waist. Most young girls are thin anyways, so I don’t think princess movies make them feel bad about themselves. I feel like a lack of representation of different sorts of beauty (skin/hair) can be much more harmful. My sister gets to choose between five or six princesses that looks like her (usually she plays Elsa since she also has the lightest and longest hair among her friends) and her best friend who is mixed-race is pretty much forced to be Tiana (sometimes Jasmine – if another girl who is white but has long, dark hair isn’t there) and my sister even told me that she thinks it’s unfair.

    • Santia says:

      The same thing with superheroes. My son wanted to identify with one so badly when he was little, and couldn’t find a single popular one who looked like him. Yes, they are imaginary characters, but to kids, they are very real in a way. And the fact that no one thought to create some that would reflect the reality of little kids who aren’t white is quite sad.

    • michelleb says:

      That’s exactly what I was going to say. I was an 80s kid and there were no princesses that I could identify with. I am part Punjab and part Puerto Rican and all I would see are these very pale princesses. At some point, I remember thinking that only white girls could be princesses. It made me feel a little weird about myself.

      At least there is Pocohontas, Jasmine, Mulan, and Tiana now – but there needs to be more diversity.

      But, yes, as a child, I noticed the whiteness of the princesses far more than I did their unnatural figures.

    • Samtha says:

      Lack of diversity in body type representation is just as harmful.

    • Trillion says:

      Oh, they notice. Subconsciously.

      • inthekitchen says:

        +1000, Trillion

      • GoodNamesAllTaken says:

        I noticed when I was about five the tiny waist on the girl mouse on Mighty Mouse. You’re are probably to young to remember that, but she was drawn with big mouse boobs and a tiny waist and I specifically remember noticing and wondering if that’s what girls were supposed to look like.

      • michelleb says:

        Oh, I am not saying that they don’t notice. It’s just that the poor representation of minorities can be more glaring. At least it was for me and for my sisters.

      • GoodNamesAllTaken says:

        Oh, sorry, I misunderstood. When I was a little girl, there were hardly any TV shows with girls in them. I remember that, too.

    • Lauren says:

      I suppose that as a little girl I didn’t feel bad about how Disney princesses’ bodies looked, because I was thin and not developed yet and I guess I assumed that’s what I would grow up to look like. I DID feel inadequate in a way because I wasn’t blonde and blue eyed, because face it: the prettiest most princess-y princesses were ALWAYS the blondes. Belle, Ariel and Yasmine were always the quirky ones and there truly was a hierarchy in the princesses imo.

  8. Kaley says:

    Ha, in that case maybe just this once they should have stuck with “It’s photoshop.”

  9. Tracy says:

    In these pictures she doesn’t appear to have a “really small waist”. She appears to have a perfectly normal waist. She’s a pretty girl…until she smiles. Really awful smile.

    • Esmom says:

      I don’t know if I’d call her smile awful but it’s always struck me as odd…to me it looks just like a Wallace and Gromit character’s smile.

    • perplexed says:

      Her smile seems sort of plastered on and doesn’t seem full of joy, but if she’s on a liquid diet to wear a corset, I can kind of see why not.

    • Seán says:

      Awful smile? Christ, high standards much?

  10. Estella says:

    By agreeing to do this, she is helping promote images that could be unhealthy to young girls. Her argument doesn’t even make sense and she is deflecting personal responsibility.

    And corseting is a ridiculous trend.

  11. inthekitchen says:

    I’m sorry, but no. There’s no way that the normal, real waist in those red carpet photos and in the Cinderella photos are the same. And, don’t you have to have years of corset training to get your waist so small? I don’t think you can just pop on a corset and reduce it to the size of double your arms. Where did her ribs go? Where did her organs go?

    And, how can you be an actress in this country and say “I don’t really get the thin thing?” I mean, come on.

  12. Chihiro says:

    Still bitter that they made Holliday Grainger a stepsister instead of Cinderella. As for her waist, yes she is small and I’m sure they made her corset tight, but it still looks photoshopped to me.

    • Samtha says:

      She would have been perfect as Cinderella. I don’t understand that casting choice, either!

  13. Naddie says:

    Hypocritical, lady? Tell me more about t being healthy and natural while you only take liquids and use a corset to shape your body.

  14. krastins says:

    Hell, the cartoon Cinderella has more of a waist than this. Her shoulders are twice as large as her waist

    • mollyrogers says:

      Good point! This goes beyond the exaggerated youthful femininity of Disney princesses and just looks medically awkward.

  15. Samtha says:

    Part of it, with the pic posted, is an optical illusion. She’s not showing her full back–she’s slightly angled so you can’t see the full size of her waist. It makes it appear even smaller.

    The size of her waist in the trailer actually made me do a double-take, though, so it’s not just that one pic.

  16. perplexed says:

    I’m not critical of her as a person or her answers (she was answering them honestly and she’s simply doing she was hired to do?), but if the images were photoshopped I don’t have an issue with that being pointed out. If we can find out Tom Cruise used a stunt double or that Natalie Portman didn’t really do her ballet, I don’t see an issue with people paying attention to the fact that images have been digitally altered. Also, if she had to do something weird to achieve the waist like being on a liquid diet, I don’t have an issue with people paying attention to that either — we’ve wondered what other actresses had to do to achieve a certain physique for a film role.

    Her waist in the top pic does seem unusually small. I don’t think even ballet dancers have waists like that. Yeah, small women exist, but even the small people I’ve seen don’t have waists like that. I sometimes wonder if some small actresses delude themselves into believing they are smaller than they really are when answering questions about photoshop (this actress seems to be doing that because in the other pics her waist looks normal-sized to me).

  17. jwoolman says:

    Why in the world would anybody put a thin young actress in a corset so tight she couldn’t eat solid food while wearing it? I would think it would also interfere with vital things like breathing and staying upright without fainting, which don’t seem good for production. There seems to be no reason for the character to have such a distorted waist. Has anybody from Disney explained their bizarre reasoning? Or was it a rogue wardrobe designer’s decision?

    • DaysAndNightsOnAir says:

      Well said!
      And such a tight corset would force your inner organs to slowly reshape and relocate. Yes, seriously.
      It is disgusting.

  18. INeedANap says:

    These questions should have been directed at the executives and the marketing department. And that picture has definitely been shopped.

  19. Bea says:

    “I’m actually finding it really hard not to eat right now” Well Lily, what made you stop? Did you stop eating because even though you are “naturally tiny” you still don’t fit the designer clothes you are being loaned for your promo tour? Any why do you think your naturally tiny self fails to fit into designer clothes? If your naturally skinny self is too fat then who are these women who can wear these clothes? Do you ever ask yourself these questions Lily? No, because then you wouldn’t be talking about a liquid diet and a corset squeezing your intestines like NORMAL THINGS YOU IDIOT. YOU WOULD REALISE HOW ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS THESE IDEALS ARE.

  20. DaysAndNightsOnAir says:

    Those tiny waists were fashionable when fashion “enabled” and society forced women to constrict their waistlines. This is not the case any more. And I think even Disney movies should start to deliver this message from now on.

  21. Natalie says:

    Anyone seen this? Un-thinning of ridiculous waistlines on Disney Princess from Buzzfeed:
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/30/disney-princess-real-waistline_n_6076634.html

  22. Mrs.Krabapple says:

    That photo was definitely photoshopped. The actress is so thin to begin with, that I find it really disgusting Disney thinks she isn’t thin ENOUGH, and therefore has to force her into a too-tight corset and photoshop a smaller waist. It reminds me of the Ralph Lauren ads that turned very thin models into praying mantis insects. Disgusting is the only word that comes to my mind. I have no interest in ever seeing this movie and rewarding Disney for their hatred of women.

  23. KatyD says:

    Caution: rant coming. . . I hate this backwards story. 🙁 Cinderella is lame and misogynistic (especially the original version). Why are we still stuck on these stupid stories? I’m giving the giant side-eye to everyone involved in this mess of a movie. Hope that it tanks…

    And this actress–on my gosh. She talks about promoting a healthy image and then discusses her liquid diet? Well, she obviously wasn’t hired for her intelligence.

  24. Saks says:

    I know asking that question puts her in a tricky position but given the public this movie targets I think it might be a bit irresponsible for her to say that

  25. Eleonor says:

    Not even Dita von Teese has a wais like that and she has been wearing corsets for years.