Whitney Port has been getting attention lately for her dramatic weight loss. There’s been speculation that it’s due to an eating disorder. A lot of people have been concern-trolling her on social media, which isn’t helpful whether someone has disordered eating or not. When she first addressed her weight loss, she framed it as a problem with finding food that was appealing enough, and lacking motivation to prepare food for herself. The way she described it was very judgmental, calling herself “lazy” and “picky.” But she also said that her ambivalence toward food might be a form of disordered eating in itself. She said she was going to work with an eating disorder specialist. (“Disordered eating” is when there are abnormal eating patterns that don’t meet the criteria for a clinical diagnosis.) On the latest episode of her With Whit podcast she talked with her husband Tim Rosenman about her health and her weight. He said that he “personally prefer[s her] with another 10 to 15 pounds … from a looks point of view.” He’s not concerned about her health, but aesthetically, he doesn’t think she looks good. I’ll take “Missing the Point” for 1200, please.
Whitney Port’s husband is setting the “set the record straight” on his concern over her weight.
Tim Rosenman clarified in Tuesday’s episode of the “With Whit” podcast that he found the “Hills” star “too thin from an aesthetic point of view” and believed she could “be hotter.”
After acknowledging that his reasoning might “open [him] up to being an a–hole,” the producer told his wife that he “personally prefer[s her] with another 10 to 15 pounds … from a looks point of view.”
Later in the conversation, Rosenman, 46, reiterated, “I was concerned that you could be hotter with 10 or 15 more pounds, and maybe that’s f–ked up.”
Port, 38, agreed that she “aesthetically” does not like how she looks, blaming her weight on previously being under the weather.
“It all stemmed from when I ripped up my esophagus and lost all that weight from when I got sick. Since then, I think I have just not put it back on,” the “City” alum said while calling her social media followers’ worries “blown out of proportion.”
The online commentary began in July when Port wrote via her Instagram Stories that her partner had been “worried” about her weight.
She has since shared her plans to build strength and see a nutritionist, noting that she does not believe she is suffering from an eating disorder as much as “disordered eating.”
Rosenman blamed himself for backlash in Tuesday’s podcast episode since “people took what [he] said and gave [her] an eating disorder.”
He claimed, “That is not the case. … I am not worried about your health because I have intimate knowledge of your organ function, your cholesterol levels, I know them all. Whitney is in the 99th percentile of all this stuff. Whitney is healthy.”
While he “was not concerned with her health,” Rosenman did wonder whether his wife had a “strained relationship with food, with appearance [and] with being in the public eye.”
Yeah, this is an a–hole thing for him to say. I don’t think it’s supportive to tell someone with disordered eating habits that they look less attractive when they are thinner. Look, when I had disordered eating, I got very thin. And it gave me a feeling of great pride whenever someone told me that I looked too skinny. It didn’t matter that it was negative feedback, it only reinforced my behavior. It might have even reinforced it more than people telling me I looked good! Motivations behind disordered eating and eating disorders are complicated–but what if Whitney had experienced a similar response to her husband’s comments that she was “too thin”? What if it only reinforced her behaviors? It would be far better if Tim didn’t say anything about how he “prefers” her body to look. His preference is not the point here, and for the record I would feel just as strongly about this if Whitney was in a larger body and he made a comment about preferring her to be smaller. I thought, back in July, that when Whitney said Tim was “worried” for her it was genuine worry and concern for her well-being. Not “worry” about her being less attractive to him (!!!). In the podcast episode, Tim says that people took his “worry” out of proportion and he wants to reassure people that Whitney’s healthy. But health isn’t just about cholesterol levels and organ function, it’s also about her mental and emotional state. I really hope the specialist she’s seeing is able to support her and address the underlying causes of her disordered eating.
He is a complete jackass. What a thing to say “ you would be hotter with 10 to 15 more pounds. She needs to leave this jerk he is not good for her.
agreed. the subtext with that is “you would only be hot if you were 10-15 pounds more…but not if more and not if you’re less”.
And more than all this, it reaffirms the idea that women’s bodies exist solely to please men and that any bodies that are not pleasing are therefore worth less. It’s infuriating, especially from a partner.
I don’t think he said she’d be “hotter with 10 to 15 more pounds.” Originally she framed it as him expressing concern about her health, but when the general public agreed that she was underweight and had an eating disorder she went into damage control and threw him under the bus, probably with his consent.
If he really said that then he would look hotter if he was ANOTHER GUY.
If she looks that thin in photos can you imagine what she really looks like?
Exactly this. Dude needs to look in the mirror. My alcoholic uncle has that same nose.
This man is worthless and does not deserve her.
I wish her health and happiness.
I could say more but I won’t.
Yep. Spencer Pratt said of Heidi before her surgery, “Her nose is too big and her titties are too small,” yet she still married the douchebag.
He’s a dick. But I do wonder (and I may be giving him WAY too much leeway here) if he thought this would be the way to get through to her? Like she’d respond to that versus trying to have a discussion about her (obvious) eating disorder?
I kind of got that vibe as well, but maybe I’m just hoping that was the intention. Like, the concern trolling is actually a big stressor for her, so he is trying to get them off her, but he is actually worried about her, so he says she’s healthy, but she would look better with more weight. My husband has said some colossally stupid stuff when trying to be helpful, so I’ll just keep hoping it came from a good place. Regardless, the path to hell is paved with good intentions and all that.
I think there’s a possibility that he is worried about her health but that he’s either realised that’s not the way to gets through to her, or she’s upset about the public ED conversation so he’s taking the bullet and backing her by saying she’s healthy and he knows it, he just meant it in an aesthetic way.
What he said in the podcast is awful. So if it was genuine? Ick.
I know zero of these people, but that was my thought too, MaryContrary. I’ve had friends with eating disorders, and I can see how the situation could devolve to a point where you are basically begging someone you love to get healthy, by using what you think are flattering terms, they might like more than being thin.
I don’t know anything about the two of them, but I have been in situations where friends/family are very scared for someone, and they think they can break through. It’s desperation, and I get being desperate. I didn’t watch The Hills, but I can imagine that saying to any of them “they would be hotter, if…” might have worked on a whole lot of them.
This guy might be a total douche, but she is clearly not in a good place, and I hope he loves her more than being a douche.
Gross. He could just say she’s beautiful at any size and that’s what a supportive, non-POS partner would say.
I disagree. A truly supportive partner would tactfully address their significant other. “Hey, I’ve noticed you’ve been down lately. Is there something you’d like to talk about?” If there are eating disorders and/or mental issues, a supportive partner should address it, not lie to them and sugar coat or worse, ignore, the fact something might be wrong.
And maybe he’d look better if that massive nose of his lost 10-15 pounds. Jeeze dude, leave her alone!
I get really thin when I’m stressed, and I’m tall so I tend to look pretty lanky, and people will say the dumbest shit like this and think it’s ok. It’s hurtful, just as you wouldn’t shame someone for being overweight you don’t shame people for being under. In fact don’t comment on bodies at all!
Too big, too small, too tall, too short, asses not big enough or too big, breasts not big enough or ‘sagging’, hair should be long but fashionable, no make-up because make-up is false advertising but wait! that one doesn’t wear make-up so she doesn’t take care of herself well.
ETC ETC ETC
Men always have something to complain about so best to have their comments be white noise.
Also the reason I don’t buy fashion magazines as all of that is about making us feel inadequate so their advertisers can sell us crap to look ‘beautiful’.
Heh. Watching fashion magazines tank lately has been a delight for me. That’s one form of print media I won’t feel sorry to see go–or get significantly reduced until someone figures out how to do one that helps, not guilt-trips.
If he isn’t concerned about her health, then why mention the 10-15lbs. Dude.
I am glad that Whitney is raising awareness about disordered eating vs. eating disorders and publicly admitting she’s getting help. I think it’s an important conversation to have and raise awareness about.
However, she doesn’t owe people an explanation. I feel like she’s being forced to play defence because of all the negative comments she’s getting.
Why say anything at all, dude? I know this is blasphemy in today’s world, but not every thought needs to said out loud. Saying she would be more attractive at a larger size is not helping matters. She has said she doesn’t think she looks good at her current weight and wants to gain weight, so why pile on with “you would be hotter if…”? She may objectively physically healthy according to tests, but there may be some mental or psychosomatic issue she’s having with body image or food. I hope she’s seeing a therapist as well as nutritionist.
Do you think it is possible that he chose to tell her she’d be more beautiful if she put on weight as a strategy to help her? Misguided, perhaps, but if he knows how much she values looking beautiful then the “aesthetic” angle should be addressed, because it is very much on her mind. I think he was trying to reassure her. He may have tried other strategies to help that we don’t know about.
That’s what I think he was doing. Her IG photos suggests that she’s proud of her current thinness. It’s just one body-check photo after another.
I think the concern trolling comments on her photos are actually validating to her that’s she’s still thin enough to be hot. His comments seemed like an attempt to appeal to her vanity, because the wellness concern wasn’t registering or making any difference.
Yes. I posted the same thing above.
The fact that she’s still posting bikini photos after all of the online comments about her weight tells me that she likes being thin and the comments about it. I went through a period like this, and there was definitely some satisfaction in the feeling of control. I had a boyfriend at the time who was was not healthy for me, and I can’t help but wonder if her dick of a husband is part of the problem.
This is going to be mean and snarky:
Maybe he’s hoping she gets a little bigger so he can see her past that giant nose of his that’s probably blocking his view.
I know face-shaming a man is meager payback for body-shaming a woman, but that’s what I’ve got.