Beloved Movies And TV Shows Actually Rife With Body-Shaming

Nothing reminds you of how far we’ve come in becoming a kinder society than watching a movie or TV show from over a decade ago.

This happened to me over the holiday period when I decided to put on one of my go-to not-too-Chrismassy Christmas movies, Bridget Jones’ Diary. This is one of my favourite rom-coms ever, and while I still enjoy it, there was a recurring theme throughout that I couldn’t get past: Bridget is body-shamed constantly.

Millennial women have trust issues because we were told for three Bridget Jones movies that this woman wasn’t thin. pic.twitter.com/5gREaPLkNU

— Tara Watson (@tara_watson_) December 27, 2022

Not only does Bridget refer to herself as “fat” throughout her narration, but the people around her reinforce this assessment: the criticism of Renee Zellweger’s body shape comes both internally and externally.

Bridget Jones is, of course, not alone in how the film body-shamed its protagonist — look no further than some of the most iconic and beloved movies and TV shows from the ’00s for even more examples.

I’m not talking about movies like Shallow Hal which are obviously fatphobic (and not to mention just a terrible film) but the movies and shows where body-shaming went under the radar. From throwaway comments to jokes made at a woman’s expense, these film’s critical depictions of women’s bodies is hard to stomach… especially under a 2023 lens.

1. Bridget Jones’ Diary

The protagonist in the Bridget Jones trilogy constantly complains about her weight, pondering that all her troubles would fade if she would lose a few kilos. This insecurity is reinforced by her friends and strangers who also consistently comment on her weight.

In one especially baffling scene, after Bridget discovers her boyfriend Daniel (Hugh Grant) had been cheating on her with an American work colleague, the woman then turns to Bridget and says to Daniel, “I thought you said she was thin.”

2. Love Actually

The character of junior staffer, Natalie, in the Christmas rom-com is constantly berated for her size. When the Prime Minister (Hugh Grant again!) asks about her, a colleague describes Natalie as the “chubby girl”, and goes on to say she has a “sizeable ass” and “huge thighs”.

Natalie talks about her ex later in the film, and says he dumped her after telling her “nobody wants a girlfriend with thighs the size of tree trunks”. Natalie’s own father refers to her a ‘Plumpy’ and in the film, Natalie’s weight is intrinsically linked to her worth as a partner and person. The PM is almost portrayed as heroic for pursuing her despite what everyone else thinks. Big yikes.

3. The Devil Wears Prada

This iconic movie’s entire premise is that Andy (aka literally angel Anne Hathaway) is some sort of ugly duckling who, after working at a high fashion magazine Runway, blossoms into a beautiful swan. The people who work at this magazine, namely the editor-in-chief Miranda and her confidante Nigel, make persistent comments about Andy’s weight and what she eats.

Andy’s clapback? Umm, she loses weight, proudly declaring by the end of the movie that she’s gone down a clothing size.

4. Ugly Betty

If you cast your minds back to the 2006, a series that was actually huge at the time has somehow been largely forgotten by most of us: Ugly Betty. Led by America Ferrera as the titular ‘ugly Betty’, like the Devil Wears Prada, the show takes place in a high fashion magazine.

Throughout the series, Betty’s work colleagues persistently encourage Betty to lose weight, along with making disparaging remarks about her looks in general. In one of the most revolting moments, Betty is mocked and laughed at when she attempts modelling at a photoshoot — it’s simply something that should never have been given the greenlight to be made.

5. Sex and the City

The Sex and the City movies had the internet divided. And while I’d argue the first movie is leaps and bounds better than the second, it was far from perfect. One of the worst moments is when Samantha is body-shamed by her friends when she enters a party wearing an outfit that exposes her stomach. As she arrives, Anthony actually asks her “Mother of God, what’s with the gut?”

Samantha then has to justify her changing body by saying she’s started eating more to distract herself from wanting to stray from her relationship with Smith. Yes, the line “I eat so I won’t cheat,” is low-key iconic, but the way Anthony and the women react to their friend for simply putting on a tiny bit of weight is truly horrific.

6. Friends

It pains me to write this as someone whose favourite show is Friends but this show was deeply problematic. I won’t even go into how many times it was homophobic, but the fat-shaming throughout has aged particularly badly. The entire crux of so many of the jokes about Monica growing up were that she was a heavier weight — that’s the entire joke.

Throughout the series, Courtney Cox wore a fat suit in the flashback scenes where her character was most often seen eating. In one scene, a young Chandler described her as Ross’ “fat sister” and acted repulsed by her.

It wasn’t until Monica lost weight that Chandler showed any interest in her — not just romantically but as a person. Absolutely gross!