I’ve covered Ashley Benson’s interviews in the past, and I’ve developed a slight affection for her, despite the fact that I’ve never watched Pretty Little Liars or anything she’s ever been in. I do think she has an inflated sense of her place in the Hollywood food chain, but she’s also pretty harmless and she comes across as pretty sweet. She’s also been using magazine interviews to discuss body image, and how often casting directors and producers have told her that she’s “too fat” for a part. She maintains a size 2 figure (according to her). So… it sucks. Ashley covers the new issue of Health Magazine and once again she’s talking about being seen as “too fat.” Some highlights:
Her morning ritual: “I play with my two dogs. I get coffee. If I don’t have coffee, I don’t function. And I usually do Pilates three days a week for an hour, and I try to box or do SoulCycle two or three times a week. There are times I just want to do nothing! But then I don’t feel good about myself.”
Her healthy-living idol: “Gwyneth Paltrow. I have one of her cookbooks, and I think she looks beautiful. I’m not the best cook, but I made fish, this stew and some soups and salads. When I look at all the pictures in her cookbook, I’m like, ‘Wow, I already feel better,’ you know?”
She knows she doesn’t have a “supermodel” body: “Yeah. It’s come up a few times in the last few years, like, “You’re too fat for this.” And I’m just sitting here like, “Wait, what? Do you want a skeleton?” But I feel good. I don’t want to lose 20 pounds, because I don’t need to.”
Whether she feels pressure to lose weight: “Absolutely. I get told all the time to lose weight. I got that a month ago. It’s just weird. With my stuff recently, it’s been, “You have to be skin and bones or you’re not getting it.” There was a point where it was getting to where a size 2 was great. I’m a size 2, but I think that a size 4 is healthy. I think that all of these sizes are healthy.”
She’s a guy’s girl: “I’m much more of a guy’s girl. I love hanging out with the guys. I’m not the type of girl who’s like “Everybody put on party dresses, and let’s get our makeup done!” I’m like, “Let’s go to a dive bar.”
Things happen for a reason: “That was when I got told that I was too fat. I was just like, “Why am I even in this industry?” It’s just so depressing sometimes. But no matter what challenge you’re going through, if you’re having the worst day or the worst week or the worst year, everything that’s happening to you right now is happening for a reason that you will see in the future.”
Just for the record, Hollywood: Ashley Benson is not fat. She’s just not. She has a really cute figure and it would be great to see more women in TV and film with this kind of healthy, eating-solids-type figure. As I said in a previous story about Ashley, I think part of the problem might be that Ashley has sort of a baby-face? Like, she has a full face and the Hollywood types are so used to seeing women with hollowed-out faces and sunken cheeks that they just assume that Ashley is “fat.”
She looks so much like Taylor Swift in this shot:
Photos courtesy of Health Mag.
Ugh at the “girl’s girl ” comment. There’s nothing inherently boyish about preferring dive bars to party dresses.
so so agree.
Right? Why assuming all girls likes to wear dresses and party?
I have a ton of female friends and my closest friends are female. That has not always been true, but the gender ratio changes depending on my life circumstance. And dang, my lady friends and I don’t just stand around wearing dresses and putting on makeup. (Mostly we play board games and eat pizza.)
If that was her experience with female friends, she needs to find less boring people.
Seriously, this comment is so obnoxious. What, she is a “cool girl”? Get over yourself for real.
I know!! I have a lot of close girlfriends and believe me, we often prefer going to a dive bar together in our jeans and tshirts than dressing up..
Agreed, I eye-rolled hard at that one. Just another typical internalized misogynistic comment, “Oh all other girls are THIS but I’M not! I’m better because I’m more like the guys!”
Also if that’s fat I must be a land whale.
do you guys think maybe you’re reading into it a little too much? context, people. Yikes. Get out your pitchforks!
It is mind boggling that AB is told to lose weight.
I “get” why she gets those comments. She’s healthy and beautiful and has an enviable figure ( at least, to me as a “regular human”). But she does look like she eats food and works out and indulges sometimes, and she’s “softer” looking than many of her contemporaries. She looks bigger than those girls because they seem more like they restrict and specifically keep their bodies small. So on that end, she’s “fatter” than Hollywood girls. Me, I love her body. I think she represents the normal women who watch our diets and exercise but aren’t obsessive about it. I feel like the media has a lot of underweight and some overweight people, but really really few just normal healthy girls.
It is kind of same it was with old Hollywood stars. They were definately not fat but when you compare them to current stars and expecially the faces you could say they “look fat”.
She’s built similarly to Kate Upton: busty, solid torso, and long legs. That can look “fat” because her weight settles near the top.
So we have two problems: 1) a perfectly fit woman is considered “fat” by Hollywood standards and 2) a fat woman is apparently unsuitable to appear onscreen.
Ugh.
I have seen her in Pretty Little Liars and noticed this exact same thing – that her face is full, from the profile she appears chubby but the body is thin. However, I can’t believe people called her fat.
I would think that the industry people would understand the mechanics of showing up on screen better than a simple viewer.
Wrong spot
Yet you’re still on plenty of magazine covers and tv shows. So how is this not working for you? She knows she looks good and she seems to have a lot of confidence so let’s not feel too sorry for her.
She probably is unable to transition into out of PLL.
Well that’s a problem a lot of actors/actresses have after being on one hit tv show.
She lost all credibility at Paltrow’s cookbook.
Seriously though I’m beginning to think she’s the one telling herself to lose weight. Girl go ahead and name drop the people who are telling you to lose a few pounds. Put them on blast because you’re not fat, you’re thin.
I know a lot of starlets are probably told to lose weight or feel they need to lose weight in order to keep up with the Hollyweird standards of beauty. Like I said before if that’s the case than this is another reason Black actresses are not getting good roles or roles at all. If you think about it Kerry Washington , Gabriel Union or Tariji P. Henson are by no means fat but they are curvier than Jennifer Lawrence, Nicole Kidman or Margo Robbie. Imagine not getting a part because you’re Black and the studio execs thinks you’re too fat.
Have you seen Kerry Washington in the past 4/5 years? She’s really, REALLY tiny, and I do watch her consistently on scandal and other projects, and she lost a lot of weight, and her profile rose. Gabby union is also quite lean and toned and muscular, and I don’t believe they are curvier than JLaw. Taraji’ maybe.
And I completely believe that she’s being told to lose weight constantly, if even JLaw made a big deal about it in the first two years of her A+ List status, why can’t she? I’m sure she represents plenty of actors and actresses who are being told to slim down for a role.
Even Jack Johnson, from New Girl, when being cast, was told to lose weight before shooting, and keep it off to fit the profile of the show. No one is exempt, apparently.
I don’t know I feel like all these body diversity conversations are centered around the same imterchangeable looking white women. So whenever I read stories like the other one with the plus sized model girl and the others and how we’re somehow moving forward I just kind of roll my eyes.
Omg she’s SOOOOO FAT! (sarcasm, guys)
I’ve never understood this culture and obsession of thinking that being skinny is the be all, end all. This is coming from someone who was always extremely and naturally skinny who couldn’t gain wait to save my life. I much preferred the look of curves and athletic figures. Couldn’t wrap my head around why skinny in Hollywood was so important. Neither could I wrap my head around why not having a butt was such a coveted wonder when, even as a slim girl, I loved having a bubble butt fatty. Like, I think “Idle Hands” Jessica Alba looked better than how she looks now, and you always hear her talking about how skinny she wants to be and I’m like, girl,you looked hot before without trying so hard. I think its all about proportion and personal taste. I think Rihanna, Sofia Vergara, J. Lo, Kelly Brooke, Angela Basset, Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid, Tocarra, Amber Rose, Ashley Graham, and all the 90’s models (including Guess era Anna Nicole Smith) run the gamut of great looking bodies, yet not al of them are a size 0-2
A big problem is all these men and women telling her to lose weight are just projecting their issues on the female form on young women. I’m sure if they look at the mental health of the ones in power most have severe issues with their mother and seeing a women with curves sends them into PTSD territory. The same as these sick porno directors who think sport f’ing is acceptable and the norm. It’s not. It just a sick cycle of mentally ill people setting standards for the wrong reasons.
But being an outspoken woman gets most of them a one way ticket out of Hollywood so most shut up and eat air. At least Ashley has the security of a hit show on her hands to give her a voice for others. It’s commendable.
Does the fel of the interview remind anyone of early JLaw interviews? Like I am not saying she does not get those comments.. she probably does cause Hollywood is fucked up to kingdom come but the whole interview including the guy’s girl thing sounds like a version of JLaw interview.
Hmm this is really a stretch but I wondered for a brief moment if she was cast as Hannah on PLL because, if you’ve seen the show, Hannah was allegedly overweight before all the A drama went down. I’m not saying Ashley Benson has EVER been overweight since I’ve seen her on TV, but it would be easier to make someone appear larger in flashbacks if they have a rounder, softer face. Lucy Hale also has a rounder face but she’s obviously tiny (extremely petite).
Honestly, I hate policing bodies of any type. We should see people of all body types, ,genders, races, ethnicities, etc. in the media.
Since when was being healthy and fit good enough for Hollywood? Pretty sure every actress who isn’t already underweight gets told to lose some, just to be on the safe side. Crazy.
So women have 2 body-type choices in Hollywood: skin & bones or overweight enough that all the jokes can center around your fatness (comedy only). Super cool, Hollywood.
I’m sitting here trying to think of any actresses with fuller figures who are either not strictly comedic or didn’t start out super thin. Coming up short…
I don’t buy it, actually.
Me either. If you’re such a guy’s girl, why would you say Gwyneth Paltrow is your idol. Thought you resonate with guys better.
Good point!
Wow. What a meaty interview. I almost would have given her SOME credit for being original if she hadn’t mentioned that anorexic looking Gwyneth Paltrow was her idol. Really?