Kelly Osbourne Says She’s Still Fat Shamed At Size 4, But Real Problem Is Body Shaming At All

Over the past few years, Kelly Osbourne has increasingly become a famous symbol of weight loss. Granted, she occasionally says some pretty dumb things, but for the most part, many people have begun looking at her as an honest, straightforward celebrity who happens to have lost quite a bit of weight. Nevertheless, apparently critics have continued fat shaming her, no matter how much she’s lost (according to The Daily Mail, that count is around 65 pounds). But even if she had never lost the weight, isn’t the real problem the fact that people are being body shamed at all?

Osbourne said in a recent interview with Fabulous that at 28, “I’m the thinnest I’ve ever been and the healthiest I’ve ever been… The totally insane thing is that I’m a UK size 4 to 6 and people still say I’m fat. I mean it’s crazy but I’ve had this all my life and I just try and ignore it.”

Well, while I agree it is pretty nonsensical to consider somebody overweight who’s at a size in the medically healthy range, I think the problem goes far beyond whether or not thin people are being shamed after they’ve lost weight. We all know that the media flip flops on certain celebrities being too fat, then too thin, then too fat once more. If she lost another fifteen pounds, I can near-guarantee the tabloids would find some horrible pun to call her regarding being “too skinny.” The issue is not with some indeterminate size number at which a person’s body is suddenly out of fat shaming range; the fact that people’s bodies are being critiqued this way at all is the problem.

Body shaming exists not just for heavier celebrities, but for thin ones, too. Actually, for that matter, there are certain outlets that will criticize just about any body type, regardless of whether or not the person is healthy — and let’s be honest, the level of healthiness based on appearance is difficult to gauge, not to mention inappropriate to judge. Sure, if a celebrity says in an article that he or she starves in order to stay thin or exclusively eats cheesecake for every meal, then yes, the health factor is a little more easy to determine. But it’s extremely hard to figure out how healthy somebody is just by taking a look at her body. Having thick thighs doesn’t necessarily mean a person doesn’t work out; in fact, maybe she plays a lot of soccer. Thin biceps do not insinuate weakness; perhaps that woman works out constantly, but is naturally built as such.

And regardless, the amount of body shaming that goes on in the media shouldn’t exist whatsoever. Whether Kelly Osbourne is a size 4 or a size 14, or anywhere above and below those tag numbers, she — nor anybody else — doesn’t deserve to be shamed about how her body looks.