The celebs & influencers let us down

Over the years, we’ve seen plenty of celebrities and influencers championing body positivity, rejecting diet culture and promoting self-acceptance. What a breath of fresh air! Many of us found comfort in their messages, feeling seen and supported in a world obsessed with weight loss. It felt like a shift was happening. Finally celebs and influencers in the public eye were challenging the toxic ideas we have been fed for so long.

But lately, there’s been a change. Some of the same people who built their platforms on rejecting diet culture have now started actually promoting dieting, weight loss surgeries, and “wellness” methods that sound suspiciously like restrictive eating. 

 

By the way, if you’d like to listen to this one as a podcast episode, you can do that here…

The rise of the GLP-1 injections such as Ozempic and Mounjaro seems to have escalated this. It can’t simply be a coincidence that these celebs have started to lose considerable amounts of weight, “taking better care of themselves” (we see the truth celebs!!), and that their anti-diet and empowerment messages have been replaced with posts about body “transformation” and the supposed benefits of shedding weight. 

Of course they say it’s for them and them alone, but really they’re proud to be showing off the new you.

This can all hit hard if you are trying to reject diet culture and heal your body image yourself. So if you’ve felt let down by these people you’re not alone. 

That feeling of betrayal is real. For me this isn’t just about them changing their minds or making personal choices about their bodies (because I do believe that everyone has body autonomy). It’s about the way their shift in messaging affects the people who once looked up to them. The people who finally felt represented, who believed they were part of a movement that was growing stronger. Only to be left questioning everything when their role models abandoned them.

I thought it was important write about this – about why it happens, why it hurts so much, and why your frustration is completely valid.

Why this feels so personal

For years, diet culture told us that smaller was better. Magazines have always shamed celebrities for gaining weight, social media influencers pushed detox teas and crash diets, and the message was always the same: you are only worthy in this world if you are thin.

Then something changed. More and more public figures started rejecting these outdated, harmful messages. Celebs spoke out against weight stigma. They reassured us that we didn’t need to lose weight to be happy or healthy. They showed us that confidence wasn’t reserved for thin people.

It was liberating. It made us feel seen.

So when those same celebs and influencers suddenly shift their messaging – whether by subtly encouraging weight loss or outright promoting it – it felt like a big old punch in the gut.

It makes you wonder if they ever truly believed in what they were saying? Did they mean it when they told us that all bodies were beautiful, or was it just something trendy to say at the time? And if they don’t believe it anymore, what does that mean for us? Were we wrong to trust them?

The emotional impact of celebs letting us down

The disappointment that comes with seeing an influencer or celebrity change their stance on body positivity isn’t just about feeling misled. It’s deeper than that. For many of us, these people provided reassurance during some of our most vulnerable moments. They helped us believe that we didn’t need to change ourselves to fit into society’s narrow standards of beauty.

When they suddenly started talking about weight loss it sent a message to their audience, whether they intended it to or not. That message is: Maybe you should want to lose weight too.

Even if they don’t directly say that weight loss is better, their actions speak for them. When someone who once preached self-acceptance appears to be going through this kind of body transformation, it’s hard not to feel like they’re telling us that being in a larger body isn’t actually okay after all.

This can be incredibly damaging, especially for people who are already struggling with their relationship with food and their body. It can reignite old insecurities, trigger disordered eating behaviours, and make people feel like they’re failing if they’re not trying to lose weight.

why this keeps happening

It’s easy to feel angry at the celebs who have changed their stance, and that anger is completely understandable. But I’d like this to be as balanced a conversation as possible so we should try to understand why they might be changing their mind about body positivity. 

The reality is that we live in a society that constantly reinforces the idea that thinness equals success, and celebrities and influencers are not immune to this pressure. No matter how much they may have believed in body positivity at one point, they still exist in a world that values smaller bodies over larger ones.

The scrutiny that comes with being in the public eye must be intense. People in larger bodies face an enormous amount of criticism in everyday life, even when they are promoting self-love and body acceptance, so how must that be magnified if you’re in the public eye? 

The pressure to conform to beauty standards doesn’t just disappear because someone has spoken out against them in the past. It lingers, wearing people down until they feel like they have no choice but to give in.

I’d like to assume that money must also play a huge role in these shifts. The diet and wellness industries are massive, and there is a lot of financial incentive to promote weight loss. Many social influencers rely on sponsorships and brand deals for their income, and brands overwhelmingly favour people who fit conventional beauty standards. 

If an influencer starts losing followers or starts struggling to secure partnerships because they are no longer perceived as “aspirational,” they may feel pressured to change their approach. And what if there is a financial benefit to the weight loss products they are promoting – that has to be tempting surely?

Everyone should be respected as an individual, but no-one idolized

Albert Einstein

Your frustration is valid

Some influencers may also genuinely believe they are making the right choice for themselves. But what they fail to acknowledge is that their public platform comes with responsibility. When they promote weight loss – whether intentionally or not – they contribute to a culture that tells people their bodies aren’t good enough as they are.

If you’re feeling let down, hurt, or even angry, that’s completely understandable. You trusted these people. You believed in their message. It’s natural to feel betrayed when they suddenly change direction and leave you questioning yourself.

Your frustration doesn’t mean you’re bitter or jealous. It means you care. It means you recognise how harmful diet culture is and how important it is to have public figures who stand against it.

Most importantly, it means you understand that body positivity isn’t just a personal preference – it’s a movement rooted in inclusivity, self-acceptance, and rejecting the idea that our worth is tied to our size.

Moving Forward: Reclaiming Body Positivity for Yourself

So, where do we go from here? How do we continue to embrace body positivity when some of the people we once looked up to have moved on?

First, it’s important to remember that body positivity doesn’t belong to any one person. It’s not defined by celebrities or influencers, and it doesn’t lose its power just because some people decide to distance themselves from it.

Instead of relying on public figures for validation, try to focus on what body positivity means to you. Think about how far you’ve come in your own journey. You don’t need an influencer to tell you that you’re worthy – you know deep down that you already are.

Consider curating your social media feed so that it aligns with your body positive values. If someone’s content no longer makes you feel good about yourself, it’s okay to unfollow them. Go find the voices that are consistent in their message, people who continue to advocate for body acceptance without backtracking when it becomes inconvenient.

Most importantly, trust yourself. You don’t need to follow what others are doing. It’s nice to have the reinforcement of those posts you see, but your body is your own, and your worth has never been dependent on the opinions of influencers.

Final thoughts

It’s painful to see public figures shift their messaging, especially when it feels like they’ve abandoned the very people who supported them. But just because they’ve changed their minds doesn’t mean you have to question everything you’ve learned about body acceptance and self-worth.

You are still enough. You are still worthy. You do not need to change yourself to fit into someone else’s idea of beauty.

The body positivity movement was never about any one person. It’s about all of us, standing together, refusing to shrink ourselves to make others comfortable.

We had some great conversation about this in the Eat From Within membership. Want to chat with a group of people who feel the way you do about this stuff? Then join the membership today and we’ll see you at the next session.