More Celebs get Naked for September
“Naked Issue” of Women’s Health
Sofia Vergara isn’t the only bold name who bared it all for the first U.S.
“Naked Issue” of Women’s Health.
Inside the magazine, we asked 7 other prominent females to take it all off and tell us,
in their words, what their naked body means to them.
The responses are uplifting, inspiring, complicated, and heart-wrenching.
http://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/womens-health-naked-issue-photos
SOFIA VERGARA – ACTRESS AND ENTREPRENEUR
“My naked body is…I don’t know. What do you say? I don’t know if I’m strong. I have bad knees and very thin bones; I can barely do a pushup. I wish I could be a little bit more athletic, but when you’re born with these gigantic boobs…I’ve had them since 13, and then they got bigger when I was pregnant and had the baby. I’m 45. Even if you want to, at this time in your life, you can’t be perfect. It’s not that you hate it, or that you’re upset about it, but it is our reality. We’re changing. I see it happening to me. I want to look my age, but I want to look great. I think if you are obsessed with this ‘I want to look younger’ thing, you’re going to go crazy.”
MAGGIE Q – ACTRESS OF ABC’S DESIGNATED SURVIVOR AND ENTREPRENEUR
“My naked body is…a temple and a gift. No matter what shape or size we are, if you are doing your best to care for your temple, that’s beauty. If you’re healthy and have a working body, how much bigger of a gift could you have? There are so many people who don’t even have that. I think we forget that, but it’s miraculous that our bodies can stand, and walk anywhere, and create art, and hold your lover’s hand.
When you depend on someone else’s perspective, you always get judged…People think you’re lucky to be skinny, so they have a license to say mean things about your body. It used to hurt me. Now it makes me laugh.
It shouldn’t be acceptable to make comments about anyone else’s body. You never know that person’s story.”
CHELSEA MILLER – MODEL AND BODY-POSITIVITY ACTIVIST
“My naked body is…unique, vulnerable, but also incredibly powerful. I know that now, but I can remember the exact moment when I started to feel insecure about my body. I was around 8, and we put on our bathing suits and were going into the pool. I walked out and my dad said, ‘You’re turning into a woman – your thighs touch!’ He was just trying to be cute, but the fact that he focused on something on my body made me focus on it. Literally since that day, I’ve struggled with my legs touching. So many times I would stand in front of the mirror and pull my thighs in from behind so they wouldn’t touch in the front. Mind you, I was playing soccer every single day then. I was active and fit and at a very healthy weight. It was just my body type, and I couldn’t control it.
One day my sister was visiting me and said, ‘Do you realize how many times today you’ve said you’re fat?’ I’d said it out load at least six times that day. It was only noon. That was kind of my aha moment. I realized I talk to body about myself to myself all the time.
We’re taught only certain bodies are beautiful for so log that we make it a truth for ourselves. So if we do the opposite – if we constantly tell ourselves we are beautiful – we’re eventually going to believe it in the same way that we believed that we weren’t.”
FRANCHESCA RAMSEY – COMEDIAN, WRITER
“My naked body is…a place I’m newly comfortable with. When I was younger, I thought I was the only person on earth with lopsided breasts…it was this devastating thing, this thing I was so broken up about and didn’t talk to anyone about.
In acting school, we had to write stories about ourselves and our bodies, and it was the first time I talked about having lopsided boobs. I was so nervous, but so many girls were like, ‘Oh my god, me too!’ I was like, ‘How cool that talking about your own body insecurities can help yourself but also help other people.’ I knew then that I had to start being nicer to myself. I realized it was a lot more work to be negative and talk down to myself, and I didn’t even get anything out of it.”
DANA VOLLMER – SWIMMER AND OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST
“My naked body is…strong. Being a swimmer all your life, you’re exposed. You’re always in a swimsuit. It’s easy to be critical of yourself. I wasn’t as lean as some of the athletes I saw. I wasn’t as toned. I didn’t have as much muscle mass. You look at other swimmers and you think, Their body is why they’re successful – I’m need to do exactly what they do. But my body is not their body. I can’t eat the same way as other people. My body is not going to respond the same way.
It took the disappointment of missing the Olympic team in 2008 to realize that I wasn’t happy. I wasn’t enjoying competing, or training, and it was because I was picking apart every single thing I did and picking apart my body. It took that disappointment to realize that this is not a way to live. From that point forward, I tried to step back from that mindset and learn to appreciate all that my body does.”
ANNA VICTORIA – TRAINER, FIT-FLUENCER
“My naked body is…a reminder that I am human, and that I’m perfectly imperfect. And it’s my inspiration to keep loving myself.
Having lived in Rome for three years changed my perspective. In Europe, nakedness is not something to be embarrassed about – it’s not taboo like it is here; it’s just a human body, no big deal… But on the flip side, in Italy, the beauty standards are influenced by the modeling industry, so they like girls to be skinny-skinny, and I’ve always wanted to be curvy-curvy.
When a girl would compliment me and say, ‘Your legs are so skinny’, that was an offense. I’d be like, ‘Don’t tell me that! I’ve been working so hard to get muscle in my legs.’ But it did help me realize that beauty standards are not universal. They mean nothing. The only thing that matters is how you see yourself.”
OSE NAMAJUNAS – B MARTIAL ARTIST, UFC CHAMPION
“My naked body is...the story of my whole life. There’s a lot around us that we can’t control, but my body, my mind, and my soul are pretty much the only things that I can. All the scars on my body, all the bumps and bruises, all the muscles - that is a story of everything I have done. And it’s not just my story. My ancestors who came before me gave me this vessel to sculpt and mold.
Sometimes I’m like, Aw, man, it would be nice to have a little more boobage going on! But my body is designed to move and be agile and be like an Amazon warrior. Boobs would hold me down. I’ve got some big old knees, big old feet. I could nitpick, but at the same time, I think it’s all friggin’ beautiful.”
BETTY WHO – SINGER, MODEL
“My naked body is...the body I was given in this life. I grew up with body-image issues. I was six feet tall when I was 12. You have an image of what a woman should look like. Everybody is different, and that’s not really something you understand when you’re young - that every single human being feels they’re not perfect. I’ve gotten passed over for jobs - ads, campaigns, beauty and fashion stuff- because I am an in-between. I’m lucky enough that I’m not auditioning to play the role of someone else. I’ve carved a space for myself where I make music that doesn’t appease anyone but myself.
Instead of desperately trying to be skinny, I’ve been on this quest to be strong. To me, sweating and exhausting my body bring me back down to earth when the world feels like it’s spinning out of control. Whether it’s Spin class or yoga or dancing, all of a sudden I have more clarity.”
