It’s not that I begrudge Ricki Lake losing weight (even though she’s only eating 1,200 calories a day, which seems tragically low to me); if she’s happy, then great. But the quotes about herself as a fat girl just make me sad; the fact that she felt she really needed to get as small as possible is sad to me. And I wish she were a little more body positive in talking about her weight loss.

It’s over a year later, and her attitude continues to disappoint me. It’s as if my blog post criticizing her HAD NO EFFECT ON HER WHATSOEVER! That can’t be, can it?

I didn’t have surgery and I worked hard. There’s no secret. I’m active. I watch what I eat.” But the talk show hostess feels under pressure to stay thin now she has shed her extra weight.

She adds, “According to Hollywood standards, I’m not a thin girl. I’m a normal girl. I don’t want to perpetuate that obsession but yet I am also guilty of wanting… to lose weight. I’m just grateful that I have sons and not daughters because it’s that much harder.”

And even though she has slimmed down, Lake doesn’t rule out putting it back on one day: “With the weight stuff I don’t have any answers. Something tragic in my life could happen and I could balloon and gain weight. I can’t promise I will be like this forever.”

God, where to begin with this. She’s self-aware enough not to want to pass her weight issues on to her kids, which is a good thing. At least she realizes that her focus on being thin might not be the healthiest behavior to model. I’m interested in whether you agree that this has less of an impact on boys than on girls, though. Couldn’t her emphasis on staying thin make her boys grow up believing that the only attractive women are thin ones? Isn’t that also damaging to them, and the girls around them?

Moving along, I love how the article says she hasn’t “ruled out” regaining the weight. This isn’t her fault at all, but it’s kind of ridiculous phrasing, isn’t it? “I am now thin. I have ruled out my body ever changing.” Anyway, the part that gets me is where she talks about re-gaining the weight as a result of “tragedy” and “ballooning.” Delightful word choice that speaks volumes about how she views being a fat person.

Oh, and the fact that she “can’t believe” she was a fat person makes me sad. When she played Tracy Turnblad, she was more than a “fat person,” she was a role model and icon. To lose weight is one thing; to turn your back on who you used to be, and what you used to stand for, is quite another.

Stars include J. Love, Ricki Lake, Kim Locke, Vanessa Williams, and multiple women (including Jennie Garth and Tori Spelling) whose “before” shots show them as pregnant. They are weight loss winners as they are no longer carrying developing human beings inside of them. Woo!

Some of the quotes are worth noting, too:

Mariah Carey: “I got tired of people telling me, ‘You need to lose weight.’”

Leann Rimes: “I’m constantly working out.”

Lauren Conrad: Before she lost weight, she went to the beach and felt really self-conscious. “I wore a one-piece bathing suit the entire time, with a wrap!” [Thank god she lost those six pounds. Woo!]

Hilary Duff: At the age of 15, press criticism drove the actress to drop an estimated 30 pounds on an extreme no-bread, no-sugar diet.

Really? “Press criticism”? Is that, like, criticism from magazines that publish judgmental articles about “weight winners,” there, Us Magazine? Is that the kind of press criticism that drives a 15-year-old girl to starve herself? I wonder. But hey, she looks great now, so everything is awesome and she’s a winner too! Woo!

Thanks to Eliza for the link!

I got lazy… I ate lots of junk. I was 18 and chubby and everyone thought I was cute, so in my head I thought, I’m this cute, fat girl!

This is as good as I get. I can’t be any smaller.

I always wanted [this body] and thought I would never, ever get there. To be in this film and be a normal size was really nice.

It’s not that I begrudge Ricki Lake losing weight (even though she’s only eating 1,200 calories a day, which seems tragically low to me); if she’s happy, then great. But the quotes about herself as a fat girl just make me sad; the fact that she felt she really needed to get as small as possible is sad to me. And I wish she were a little more body positive in talking about her weight loss.

I don’t know. I guess it’s like the Sara Rue thing. As irrational as it is, I feel a little sad about it. Another fat girl icon bites the dust.

It’s a clip from the Hairspray movie soundtrack of the three Tracy Turnblads (Nikki Blonsky, Ricki Lake, and Marissa Janet Winokur) singing “Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now.” I’m obsessed with this soundtrack, you guys. I love Nikki’s voice so much. Ricki, considering she’s not a singer, does pretty well and her voice contrasts nicely with those of the other two women. Marissa Janet Winokur, I am meh on. (I listened to some of the original Broadway soundtrack and she’s a little squeaky or…something.)

This page will (slightly awkwardly) let you see who is singing which part. There’s a really cute bit at the end where Nikki hits this great high note and the other two call her a show-off. Definitely listen to the full track if you can find it anywhere.

Interestingly, both Marisa and Ricki have lost weight since appearing as Tracy Turnblad. Here are some of the comments on the YouTube page:

Marissa and Rikki look so gorgeous! I am happy for them. And Marissa is so TAN! and OMG…she looks so different!

ricki and marissa have both lost weight since thy were tracy so i supose nikki will to but i hope none of them go into tht stupid size zero crap!

all three girls are beautiful in different ways!!!

Of course, I’m sad the first commenter seems to have missed the entire point of Hairspray and the fact that Nikki Blonsky is, in fact, also gorgeous (and cute as a button to boot). But hopefully a video of the three of them recording this song will turn up on the DVD. Which I am going to buy immediately, of course!