The days of celebrating a specific body type over another is coming close to an end.
In 2015, we began to unravel the stigma created by a world filled with Photoshop and diet fads, and the conversation of body diversity was put front and center in the showbiz world.
Wherever you looked—magazines, blogs, news sites, social media—there seemed to be another celebrity chiming in and working towards advancing the movement of embracing our bodies and loving ourselves the way that we are.
In 2016, that move towards self-love has not slowed, and many celebrities have continued to speak up, turning themselves into positive role models.
Stars who are unhappy with the industry standard, where the female body is constantly tagged with labels such as “plus-sized,” or affectionately, “curvy,” are concerned about the impact this may have on the impressionable younger generation.
Here are 10 female celebs who have taken it upon themselves to speak out about loving the body you have:
1. Jennifer Aniston: The former Friends star has been a longtime advocate for embracing your body. The best thing about Jennifer is that taking advice from her feels like taking advice from a friend who’s comforting you over a hot cup of coffee.
“All bodies are beautiful,” the starlet tells Refinery29. “Let’s face it. We are so overly critical of ourselves—with the obsession with perfection, trying to reach a goal that’s unrealistic.”
Her ultimate advice? “We should take care of what we have and not take it for granted, because it’s our one body.”
READ: Jennifer Aniston’s Beauty Advice Is Basically Just Everything Your Mom Told You as a Teenager
2. Jennifer Lawrence: We all know and love J.Law for telling it like it is, and the Hunger Games star is extremely candid when it comes to body image issues. Fortunately for us all, the quick-witted 25-year old is taking a stand against these issues and claiming her role as a positive body-image advocate.
“I would like us to make a new normal-body type,” she tells Harper’s Bazaar, “Everybody says, ‘We love that there is somebody with a normal body!’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t feel like I have a normal body.’ I do Pilates every day. I eat, but I work out a lot more than a normal person. I think we’ve gotten so used to underweight that when you are a normal weight it’s like, ‘Oh, my God, she’s curvy.'”
READ: 18 Times Jennifer Lawrence Said What We Were All Thinking
3. Amy Schumer: Our favorite funnylady is huge in the self-image movement.
Amy has said several times that she is totally happy and proud to be a healthy size 6, but recently, the Trainwreck actress took to Instagram to question her inclusion in a special edition issue of Glamour, which focused on plus-size celebrities, such as Sports Illustrated cover girl Ashley Grahamand comedienne Melissa McCarthy.
Not one to keep quiet on issues that matter, Schumer reacted. “I think there’s nothing wrong with being plus-size, beautiful, healthy women. Plus-size is considered size 16 in America. I go between a size 6 and an 8. @glamourmag put me in their plus size only issue without asking or letting me know and it doesn’t feel right to me. Young girls seeing my body type thinking that is plus size? What are your thoughts? Mine are not cool glamour not glamorous.”
READ: Glamour Editor Says Amy Schumer Is Not Plus-Size Amid Backlash
4. Melissa McCarthy: Obviously, the actress is an inspiration. Not only does her success continue to rise in show business, but The Boss star is also releasing a successful fashion line.
In an interview with Redbook for its April 2016 issue, McCarthy discussed body positivity and wanting to make a difference in women’s lives by inspiring them to love their bodies.
“With women, there’s this constant weird cultural thing where we’re always supposed to be comparing ourselves with one another. Who wore it best? Whose butt’s better?” McCarthy said regarding body love.
“A good portion of women in America are size 14 and higher. I just try to make clothing that’ll make all women feel really good…When I feel good about my clothes, I’m more patient with my kids…The small happy moments add up. A little bit of joy goes a long way,” she continues, “…There’s an epidemic in our country of girls and women feeling bad about themselves based on what .5 percent of the human race looks like. It starts very young.”
The body-love proponent’s final message is that, “…as long as everybody’s healthy, enjoy and embrace whatever body type you have.”
5. Amber Riley: Beautiful and insanely talented, you wouldn’t think this soulful singer-actress would have a tough time getting a gig.
However, Riley has powered through her fair share of discrimination, and those experiences may have helped her get her new role as Effie in Dreamgirls, the Broadway musical, and give life with the character, who she says she identifies with.
“I’m not sure if it’s life imitating art or art imitating life, but I understand something of what Effie was going through. I do know being a black woman who is plus-sized in Hollywood, you’re going to face more rejection than acceptance,” Riley told Broadway World.
Amber took to Instagram to tell the world how she felt about herself, giving some much-needed inspiration and encouragement to her 710,000 followers, “I am a beautiful, courageous, black, African Queen with more curves than highways and more lumps than my mother’s potato salad and you will deal.”
WATCH: Melissa McCarthy Speaks Out Against Body Shamers
6. Cameron Diaz: Known for appreciating the bod she was given, Diaz wrote two books that support this very topic, The Body Book and The Longevity Book.
On her website, Cameron explains that she believes we all need to embrace ageing. In the days of Botox, face lifts, and Photoshop, that doesn’t seem to be a popular opinion.
“I’m so excited to continue the conversation because learning that you can age well, will actually help you age better,” Diaz posted on her Instagram, “If you understand how your body works, then you can take action to help keep it in the best possible condition so it can carry you through a long and beautiful life.”
7. Emily Ratajkowski: The model is a strong proponent of women’s equality, and she speaks out about the body issues she has faced in her Lenny Letter, confessing that she has been made to feel either uncomfortable or guilty for the way she looks, and reveals she had been warned to tune down her sexiness or she might get hurt.
“I hear the voices reminding me not to send the wrong message,” the model wrote.
“I refuse to live in this world of shame and silent apologies. Life cannot be dictated by the perceptions of others, and I wish the world had made it clear to me that people’s reactions to my sexuality were not my problems, they were theirs.”
READ: Kim Kardashian & Emily Ratajkowski Pose Topless and Recreate Controversial Selfie
8. Mindy Kaling: Who doesn’t love this TV star? The adorable and hilarious actress is a big player when it comes to promoting body diversity, which is even often addressed on her show, The Mindy Project.
“You know what’s funny? If I call myself a cute, chubby girl, the natural kind woman’s response is, ‘You’re not chubby! You’re beautiful! And thin!'” Kaling told The Guardian, “And I always want to hug the person and say, ‘It’s OK, I identify as someone who is cute and chubby—that doesn’t mean I’m not worthy of love and attention and intimacy.'”
In the same interview, she was extremely honest and admitted that she does have times when she tries to conform to traditional standards of beautiful, but, according to her, she is “not remotely successful at it.”
She makes sure to add, “I never want to be part of the problem. I want to always be as body-positive as girls hope that I am.”
You’re doing a great job so far, Mindy!
9. Sophia Bush: This star is the definition of fierce and has strong opinions about self-empowerment and body love.
The Chicago P.D. star does not desire to be anyone else’s definition of “enough,” and she spreads messages of body positivity on her social media accounts to influence her fans and followers to be more empathetic towards themselves.
“We are all made in different shapes and sizes,” Bush reposted the mission statement of an outstanding 9-year-old girl in an Instagram post, “We need to love our bodies!”
In 2014, Sophia appeared on the Today show, and spoke about her favorite charity, I Am That Girl, which works to encourage girls to feel strong, secure, and beautiful in their own bodies.
“Hey, yeah I’m going to embrace my body and own it for me, not anyone else. And I’m curvy. I’m not some rail-thin, 6-foot-tall runway model who was just born that way. I was born like this. And that’s A-OK,” the actress stated powerfully.
10. Demi Lovato: The “Confident” singer has always been endearingly open and honest about her own struggles, and the celeb has been candid when it comes to her body image issues.
When Fitness Magazine asked Demi what advice she would give other women who deal with similar hurdles, she replied, “We all have problem areas. I’m always going to have thick thighs. I can’t change that, and obsessing over it will only make me miserable. Learning to be grateful for our bodies and taking care of them are the best ways for us to empower ourselves physically, mentally, and spiritually.”
She also learned to embrace her Latina genetics and culture, admitting to Glam Belleza Latina, “I tried to conform to what everyone thinks is beautiful. But my genetics gave me a curvy figure, and I’ve come to understand that in the Latina culture, that is beautiful. I no longer look at my body and think, ‘Oh my gosh, I have such a fat butt.’ Or, ‘I hate my thighs.’ On some days, I don’t love them. But, you know, that’s one of the things that makes me me.”
PHOTOS: Best Body Diversity & Plus-Size Model Campaigns
RELATED VIDEOS:
Titles