Model and Rod Stewart’s ex-wife Rachel Hunter has been criticized all over the internet over the past couple of days for what appears to be a bit of weight gain. Hunter is one of the stars of NBC’s Celebrity Circus. Yep, it’s exactly what it sounds like: celebs who learn circus acts. Definitely a useful life skill that they can use later on. The women are all in tight sequined outfits, which are pretty unforgiving.
In some recent pictures Hunter is shown performing in a corset, and it appears pretty obvious that she has gained some weight. She claims that the show’s vigorous routines and her naturally athletic shape have caused her to bulk up, making her appear heavier on camera. No matter what’s going on, everyone from the mainstream media to internet bloggers are attacking Hunter and harping on her figure.
She made her name as the super-svelte swimwear model with endless legs.
But Rachel Hunter cut a chunkier figure when she appeared on the American reality television show Celebrity Circus, her somewhat sturdier shape barely contained by a corset-style outfit and unflattering fringed miniskirt.
The 38-year-old has complained that the athletic nature of Celebrity Circus has caused her to gain muscle and made her look bigger.
Her increased strength was certainly evident in her bulging biceps and broad shoulders – she has performed on the trapeze and walked the tightrope during the series.
[From the Daily Mail]
The Daily Mail is actually much kinder in their phrasing than a lot of the other articles out there. I think it’s pretty clear that Hunter has put on perhaps a bit of weight and a good deal of muscle. It’d be hard to do her routines over and over and not get stronger. I think she still looks gorgeous; she just doesn’t look the same as she did fifteen years ago. And who the hell does? It’s sort of ridiculous that we expect that from people, models or not.
Images thanks to the Daily Mail.
OK, she did put on some weight but it’s not like she’s in her teens or in her 20’s. This lady is 38 and how many women in America can say they look as good as she does at 38?
Kudo’s to Rachel for ‘getting out there’. That took guts.
Yeah, I look different than I did in my 20’s, but who doesn’t.
She is gorgeous!
Some women look better round – Belinda Carlyle, the lead singer of the GoGos, was one of them. Queen Latifah looks good round. I think Kim Kardishian has a lovely figure. Jennifer Lopez and Madonna both looked better when they were a bit softer and plumper.
Having said that, I don’t think Rachel Hunter looks good at this weight, and I don’t think she looks fit or muscular, either. She looks sloppy, particularly around her stomach. Nobody would care much if she were just an ordinary schmoe, but she makes a living from her looks – has she ever done anything else?
None of the other supermodels from her generation (Linda, Naomi, Cindy, Christy, et al) have let themselves go so badly.
Yikes – could they have designed uglier, less flattering outfits??
Rachel looks good – despite the wardrobe idiocy.
My boyfriend made a great point about this. As women age, their testosterone levels increase while their estrogen levels decrease. It’s actually far easier for a woman in her late 30s/early 40s to build muscle than it is for someone in their early 20s. And if you have a bit of padding on your body, it becomes amplified by the muscles underneath.
I asked him if that explained Madonna’s arms. He said, and I quote “No, the only thing that can explain that monstrosity is exorbitant amounts of free time and OCD.”
I must admit, when I scrolled down after the jump, I said, “Holy shite!” I am surprised at her body, mainly because supermodels use it as their only currency. I agree with Candy Kay that she looks sloppy. Fit and toned she isn’t, no matter what she says about “bulking” up.
She just looks very out of proportion. Her head looks tiny on that bulked-up body. And it doesn’t look like muscle, just extra weight. Maybe it’s the pics and/or what she’s wearing.
I’m in my mid-40s and guess what? If you eat smart and exercise regularly you’re body does not bulk up or get dramatically big.
I like Rachel and I’ve nothing against putting on weight and being honest about it and self-accepting. Not everyone is meant to be slim and let’s get over it. Obviously the circus routine is not the culprit here. I would respect her more, especially after being a spokesperson for SlimFast, if she’d just come out and said, it’s really too much for me to maintain my figure and I’ve decided to eat and drink what I want. I’m happy at my new weight – than to try and make some statement that we all know isn’t true.
I’m just sick to death of the media making a production every time someone puts on a little weight. Her excuse is ridiculous, but really she shouldn’t even be put in the position of having to comment about her weight. I’m ten years younger than her, but would still kill to look as good as she does now. It’s not like she gained fifty pounds or anything.
No one, I mean no one, would look good in that circus outfit. It’s so unflattering I can’t believe they made her wear it on national television (granted, no one actually watches that show). I’m an average girl and I bet that outfit would make me look like Shamu walking Hollywood Blvd. at 2 am.
I don’t think she owes anyone an explanation for gaining weight! Jesus, some of you sound pretty heartless… so what if she *previously* made her living as a model? That doesn’t mean she still does. So Im pretty sure she’s allowed to gain weight and not have a press release announcing the obvious. She’s still totally gorgeous, if she wasn’t wearing such a hideous costume, it wouldn’t even be noticeable.
Look at her arms! There isn’t any flab… it’s pure muscle. The outfit is ill-fitting and is the main reason she may appear overweight. She looks amazing, and if anyone saw her in real life, would probably agree with me.
Get her out of that atrocity.
And fix her hair. She looks ridiculous.
She’s “Stacey’s Mom” for chrissakes.
Extra weight on some women looks natural based on their bone structure, but for Rachel, it doesn’t look natural at all. It just looks like she doesn’t try.
Just a question for the people commenting negatively towards her: Did anyone spend the extra 2 minutes to look up other pictures or video clips? Yes, she has some extra weight. But there is substantial muscles beneath it and that is very clear in video clips of her. And I stand by what I wrote before – fat can be amplified by muscle, creating a very bulky look.
I don’t know what it is, but I find some of the comments on here to be very harsh towards women, especially anyone over the age of 30. It makes commenting/reading the comments on here less and less of a joy.
Editing to note – I’d like to make it clear that I find the comments, and not the articles, to be so judgmental. Perhaps it’s due to the anonymity that the internet allows.
Totally absurd to call her “fat” or say she’s let herself go! It’s the horribly unflattering outfit. She doesn’t need to starve herself to make folk like us think she’s “trying”. Trying for what?? That’s bullshit.
No, I have tremendous respect for anybody who learns to walk tightrope and do trapeze, un-job-skill-related though it may be. If she wants to eat a burger, I don’t blame her!
Roma, your boyfriend is funny!
I think the costume’s the main culprit here. Plus the camera angles and makeup are horrific and just unflattering. True, she is not emaciated but she looks healthy and strong (not a euphamism for chunky). This is a tall, broad shouldered and athletic woman in her late 30’s and she looks good. I find her figure refreshingly normal and representative of what normal people could attain through fitness.
I would hate to have to live under such intense scrutiny…
Oh for pete’s sake. She looks great. That’s a horrid costume, she is NOT big. And I love how people brag about being in their mid forties and still slim. I’m in my early forties and a happy and healthy size 14 (you asked for honesty and acceptance about size you got it). If staying ‘slim’ is your biggest accomplishment in life and something you brag about in your forties its time for a bit of a re-prioritisation and a few questions about the veracity of being a sanctimonious prat.
Who CARES what Rachel Hunter weighs??? Is she a nice person? Is she a good mum? Is she happy with her life!!!?? I’m sure these are the questions she’s most concerned with.
And Snarly you were bang on, if you eat properly and exercise you won’t get huge (as long as there are no underlying conditions of course that change that outcome). I could starve myself and be skinnier but I LIKE fish and chips (New Zealand has the best I reckon) and if I want to have some on a Friday I will…its just about moderation and being sensible. Nothing worse than listening to someone prate on about how they haven’t let anything “unorganic” pass their lips for the last 15 years…Boring!
this woman is gorgeous. she actually has a figure. she’s not one of these stick women aimlessly wandering the clubs of hollywood searching for paparazzi.. she’s been a favorite of mine for years and she’s only become more gorgeous. even on the reality show Gilligans Island she was a stunner.. give me more women with figures like this, in shape, and brains to boot….
I don’t think she carries the extra weight well, it makes her head look tiny. But, people change, it’s part of life. I’m sure she’ll lose it all again soon after all this media hype about how much of an elephant she’s become!
I have to wonder what the people who are criticizing Rachel Hunter look like.
Anyway, I don’t think Rachel Hunter does much modeling anymore so maybe she doesn’t care. Maybe she doesn’t want to starve herself anymore.
I also see what looks like a very tight restraining belt on, or whatever one would hook a lifeline 0nto. So that probably explains the waistline shape. I think she should smash that pansyass bad dancer Rod Stewart in the kisser with her new muscles.
I don’t know if it’s weight gain, bad clothes and make up or what, but she doesn’t look good. I am sure it has more to do with the costuming than anything else.
Thank-You….I’m in my 40’s and you do NOT bulk up like that. What it looks like to me being a gym-rat….looks like an exercised body with about 35 lb.s of extra weight laying over the top. Been there-ya feel like a sausage but you have to keep going-good for her!
Maybe she decided to live life rather than be slave to the life of a model – no food & no fun.
Good on her – there should be more realistic figured women out there in the media so children dont grow up thinking their the freaks because their not a size 0.
I also think people are forgetting she’s not 19 anymore – roughly her age on the Rolling Stones cover – and has had 2 kids, some peoples bodies do change after kids (mine included) and can think of better things to do, like spending time with our children, than killing yourself in a gym just to wear tiny jeans.
That is THE WORST outfit/costume EVER!!! I don’t think anyone would look good in that. I have to say though, I am looking forward to seeing new pics to compare.
Legs still look great if you ask me – bit chunkier in the middle (arent we all these days?). Yeah she looks bigger but I bet about a million times hotter than the people that write those articles!
They don’t call it “Celebrity Circus” for nothing !
The difference between those pics is one is doctored and the other isn’t. She’s always been on the voluptuous side and especially so in the last decade. Her recent modelling pics have been extremely photoshopped.
The smile theory holds — she’s got a much bigger grin now that she’s a little zaftig….
Well I’m glad to see it written that she’s 38. I seem to remember she was 24 when I was 21 so at least it’s a step in the right direction. I wish people would just admit how old they are. Even if she’s overweight she is still very pretty.
I think it’s a combination of what everyone has said: she has gained weight, but also that outfit exaggerates it.
And I hate to say it, but . . .if you win vast fame and fortune solely based on your looks, you probably do deserve a little extra scrutiny.
I do not look like Rachel Hunter (unfortunately!), so I had to rely on my brains. I went to college and law school and have a big-firm job working hellish hours. To date I’ve earned a tiny fraction of what Rachel’s earned. To my thinking, if she gets harshed on a little bit, so what? Being ogled is how she chose to make her way.
She made a special appearance at a Cajun restaurant I worked at over 10 years ago. She showed up late and was a coked out mess. Everyone was freaking out — I suspect her weight gain in recent years could also be the fact that she doesn’t have those little model “Secrets” in her life any more.
Trust me, not everyone is a natural size 4. In fact, very few of us are — a lot of celebs use those special additives to stay thin, then blow up after they stop!
Just watched parts of CO the S thanks to this post and my curiosity. It was truly heinous. That said, props to Rachel Hunter for working it to put food on her table.
Yes, she’s at least 20 pounds over what most of us would deem a perfect weight. Is she still beautiful? Absolutely. Are the costumes on this show uniformly horrific and with criminal intent? Most certainly. So, all in favor of letting nature take it’s course and allowing the gal to have a cheese burger more often than a salad if that be her wish, say aye.
She looks great and anyone who says anything different, can only wish they look as HOT as she still does!
Love the bod- hate the outfit !! 🙁
Sorry – she does look fat…
Are there any popular US shows which aren’t ripped off UK shows? (Cirque Celebritaire or something ghastly like that was the UK version 3 years ago) 👿
Okay, I have to say it. When she was with Rod Stewart I remember her saying “Women who gain weight after child-birth have no excuses – look at me, I’ve had two children” and I remembered thinking “What an arrogant woman, rich no less and 21 when she had a kid. Eating your words now Rachel? And I’m 48 and former Ford model with kids so I know what I am taking about – it is not easy to stay thin and people can work out and still not lose weight. She sounded mean.