You’d think it would take something big to steal our attention from the highly anticipated reunion of Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty on the new 90210. Actually, it was something small–too small. Almost without exception, the young actresses on The CW’s spin-off are alarmingly thin, with arms that seem thickest at the wrists, and legs that look, well, like arms. As we watched Kansas transplant Annie Wilson (Shenae Grimes, pictured, left) graze on a side salad as her lunch entrée, one question lingered: Are we the only ones overreacting to these skinny minnies? The answer, as it turns out, is no.
"Everyone says television adds five or ten pounds, soif you’re watching and someone looks like they haven’t eaten inforever, what must they look like in person?" asks a Hollywood insiderwho works with young actresses on popular series (nearly everyone askedabout this subject preferred to remain anonymous). "Why doesn’t someoneon set or a producer or a studio head say, ‘This is not okay’?"According to a source close to the show, the network has. Calls wentout to representatives of the show’s stars (Grimes, Jessica Stroup, pictured right, andAnnaLynne McCord) suggesting they address the weight issue with theladies. McCord’s publicist Gary Mantoosh denies receiving such notice,and insists that his client chows down on "whatever she wants,"including hamburgers. But one report estimates that none of the starsweighs more than 110 pounds, and 90210 insiders quietly admit that theyknow there’s a problem.
Of course, no one is pointing accusatory fingers atthree actresses barely out of their teens. One casting agent who worksfrequently with The CW turns a critical eye on the network itself. "Iknow in discussions at ABC and CBS that ‘too skinny’ is no good. Theytalk about it as a minus point," says the agent. "But at The CW it’s adifferent story. They’re trying to pull in the Gossip Girl audience andthat’s the image: hyper-skinny models." (The network declined tocomment for this article.) Still, The CW hardly stands alone in holdingHollywood actresses to an impossible standard when it comes to weight:Be thin, really really thin–but not too thin! Which leaves actresseswith, oh, roughly eight ounces of wiggle room.
This isn’t new: 10 yearsago, after Calista Flockhart, Portia de Rossi, and Lara Flynn Boylefirst became household names, Ally McBeal confronted the controversyface-to-emaciated-face when Boyle guest-starred in a 1998 episode andsneered to Flockhart, "Maybe you could eat a cookie." Flockhart snappedback, "Maybe we could share it." But all eating-disorder jokes aside,those were grown women in a show marketed to adults. The CW, on theother hand, celebrates the fact that 90210 beats every other network onTuesday nights in females 12-34. Besides, weight-related pressure istrickling down to the youngest of girls: The National Eating DisordersAssociation cites data from the 1990s in which 42 percent of girls ingrades 1-3 reported a desire to be thinner. Says the association’s CEOLynn S. Grefe, "There’s no doubt it’s gotten worse."
Even a cursory glance at pop culture bears Grefe out.In its Sept. 22 issue, People magazine (which, like EW, is owned byTime Warner) sized up the girls of 90210 next to those lanky GossipGirl stars, declaring that the GG actresses were "curvy." Theimplication being, says the Hollywood insider, that "if Leighton[Meester] is curvy then anyone above that is fat." And where on thetube are women of substance celebrated? On the 1960s ad drama Mad Men,the exaggerated hourglass of Christina Hendricks is the verydefinition of sexy. But, alas, her curves are another prop of the era,just like an Eames chair.
The sad truth is that falling outside the standarddeviation for weight in the entertainment industry is what feeds themedia frenzy. But, hey, at least something’s getting fed. –AlyndaWheat, with additional reporting by Vanessa Juarez, Lindsay Soll, andLynette Rice
What do you think about the ladies of 90210? Are they too skinny? Are there any shows outside Mad Men that you think promote a healthy body image? For related stories, check out EW’s recent 90210 cover story, Ken Tucker’s review of the show’s pilot episode, Michael Ausiello’s casting scoop, and our PopWatch posts on the show’s Spring Awakening connection and controversial family-hour oral sex scene.
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I’ve been a long time watcher of Degrassi with my wife, and while she was watching 90210, when I saw Darcy, (Annie on this show), I was like, “wow, she really got skinny.” I don’t remember her looking so thin on Degrassi. She was cute, too, now not so much.
When Jessica Stroup aka Silver was Cady on “Reaper” last season she was not that skinny nor when she was on the primeire episode of “True Blood” two weeks ago. Now AnnaLynne was that skinny on Nip/Tuck last season. Clearly these girls felt they had to be skinny for the show. Sad.
I don’t watch the show, but the slender (not skinny) ones are only setting a great example.
As a 23 year old who spent way too many of her teenage years watching shows like Dawson’s Creek and The OC, I’m used to skinny actresses. But when I watched the premiere of 90210, I really was shocked on how skinny these girls were, specifically Grimes and Stroup. If something like this can still shock us, I think it’s more than a problem.
I have to admit that as crazy as Tyra is, America’s Next Top Model does a good job celebrating a more normal size body type. Last year’s winner Whitney was a gorgeous full figure (role) model, and last week Tyra eliminated a contestant over concerns that she was too skinny. Definitely a step in the right direction, and on a “reality” show about models, no less.
If anyone saw Jessica Stroup in the begining to True Blood’s pilot knows she was very thin about 20 pounds ago, which was LAST YEAR.
Curvy is the new fat, I guess. I recall seeing a Cosmo magazine about ten years ago with Jennifer Lopez on the cover, praising her for paving the way for larger-sized women. It angered me and made me sick to my stomach (but not in a bulimic way, thankyouverymuch). Mad Men definitely promotes normal, healthy-looking women, and I applaud it for that (not to mention just being an awesome show). At least they can’t digitally alter the shows like they do with print, Faith-Hilling everything.
I do think that they are too skinny. However, my sister has an eating disorder and it wasn’t tv or media that triggered her. It is not a simple problem that can be solve be removing all skinny girl images. That being said, I think they would look better with a little more weight!! I am naturally thin and I wish I had more curves!! A show that was good for this was That 70’s Show. The girls were thin but not scary! And I think that Ugly Betty is great also.
While I do agree that the girls appear to be too skinny, why is it that only actresses are subjected to public debates about what they look like? We never read or hear debates about which actors are too lanky or too pudgy. It seems like the only time we discuss the weight of actors is when they purposely lose or gain weight for a role. Perhaps if we leave these actresses alone they can become more comfortable in their own skin and not have too worry about what others will think.
All the girls on 90210 are an intervention away from being fed out of an IV. That is the truth. So glad this article was written. Maybe someone will take notice.
Stroup is definitely too skinny, I thought the same thing, that she wasn’t that skinny in Reaper. It’s all a sad part of Hollywood. If Eva Longoria calls herself fat, then I might as well sign up for the obese wagon.
When I watched the first episode, one of my first thoughts was that someone should feed those girls a sandwich, or at least a carrot. I don’t remember Brenda, Kelly, and Donna being that skinny. Even GC and OTH have girls with a little more meat. Curves are beautiful and sexy. Sticks look like they could be broken if you touched them.
Once again 90210 rips of Degrassi and makes is fake.
I too find myself so distracted by Shanae & Jessica’s emaciated appearances. The critic in the article called out “Gossip Girl” too but those actresses look healthy to me. If the rumors are to be believed about Shanae’s diva behavior on set, maybe it’s because she’s so hungry. Hope the producers are really serious about addressing this.
GG does have taylor momsen, but she’s still quite young, so I think it’s safe to say she probably doesn’t have any issues. OTH has hilarie burton, who is freakishly thin, but I honestly think that’s natural for her. 90210 girls… not natural at all.
One of the things I like about Medium is that Patricia Arquette is actually human-woman shaped. I know she’s not a 20something…but so many shows want even the 30 and 40 somethings to be stick thin…look at Sex and the City.
If you look at pictures of the cast of the original 90210, the actresses are all “curvy” – as in, they have butts, breasts and hips. The actresses today are all shockingly thin. Of course, some girls are naturally skinny – but most teenage girls weigh more than 110 pounds. Presenting this image of super-skiing girls as the ideal fantasy for high school is incredibly damaging.
I stopped watching Desperate Housewives after 3 episodes because I kept getting distracted by wanting to give all 4 leads a sandwich. Not the only time I’ve dropped a show because the women are frighteningly skinny. It’s a bad role model for teens AND adult women.
It shocked me while I was watching the premiere. I especially noticed Grimes was stick thin.
It hurts me to look at the girls in that picture. Please eat something! Normal women don’t look like this!! How is it that the majority of our country has a problem with obesity and yet our TV/film stars look like they haven’t eaten in weeks? What kind of alternate dimension are we living in?
Jenna Fischer is a celeb who looks trim and fit but not emaciated and I think she looks great. Bring back curvy actresses!!
Jennifer Carpenter on Dexter looked like she lost some weight between the first two seasons. She was slim, but healthy looking during the first season, but she just didn’t look as healthy during the second season. Perhaps that’s why there was at least one scene of her working out every episode.
This article seems snide and inappropriate to me. I don’t need an entertainment magazine who’s not supposed to focus on gossip telling me that these girls are too thin. Maybe if they had cited references that weren’t anonymous, I’d be more willing to accept this as “journalism.”
Watching the first episode I was struck with how alarmingly skinny these two girls seemed on tv. They seem ill. I actually saw them in person and it is more marked in person. If you see pictures of Silver from years ago, she wasn’t this emaciated. Very sad. P.S. I’ve had an eating disorder, my opionion, they aren’t following a healthy diet.
When I was watching 90210 last night Jessica Stroup’s character, Silver, had on thigh high stocking and skimpy little shorts and she was just skin and bones. Fit and toned looks good but being so skinny that you can see a person’s bones all the time is not something young girl’s should aspire to.
I’ll never forget Annalynn McCord’s character on Nip/Tuck last season being told by her “friend” that -2 is the new 0.
You guys should have been on 90210’s site on IMDB the day the pilot premiered. There were some pretty….heated arguments about exactly this topic. It was the first thing many of the fans noticed, and it seemed that the older generation of fans, including those of the original 90210 were more likely to say the actresses needed to gain weight, while the younger crowd told us off with internet speak and an alarming amount of attitude, saying that the actresses were perfect, completely beautiful, and they wished they could look just like that.
The girls are all very pretty, very beautiful. But another ten pounds wouldn’t hurt them, and hey – doesn’t that add boobs?
:-/
Until the media quits equating weight with worth, this sort of thing won’t go away. We will still have girls/guys putting their finger down their throat to be skinny and worthy.
keiren63 – thank you for mentioning Patricia – I love that she is ‘normal’ looking.
studio executives will never not hire an actress vying for a lead role for being too thin, but they won’t hire an actress for a lead part for being too heavy. the message being sent to the audience is irrelevant because the audience is metrics. the image starts with the executives and who they are willing to hire.
The Perfect Role Models for Young Girls – THESE ACTRESSES ARE NOT!!! Who can I blame for this Hollywood Tragedy – CW Executives, “90210″ Producers, their Business Managers, or most importantly . . . THEIR PARENTS??? And we have the nerve to wonder why so many girls in America have self-esteem / weight issues . . Very Sad. So to the Actresses Shenae Grimes & Jessica Stroup – PLEASE go to the nearest IN-N-OUT Burger and have a Number One Combo, along with a yummy strawberry shake – Heck, I’ll even pay for it.
That’s not gossip!THEY ARE 2 THIN!THEY HAVE NO MUSCLE OR SHAPE! NOTHING!And yes the GG girlz look more healty!Are they curvy..I wouldn’t say that..but they look like they eat and got to the gym…the 90210 girlz just look starved to me!