Giuliana Rancic has a new interview with People Magazine in which she addresses the criticism that she’s too thin. The last time Giuliana responded to a question about her tiny frame, she said she wasn’t going to talk about it. “I think the best thing to do, honestly, is not even talk about it. As long as you know the truth, that’s all that matters.” Now Giuliana is telling us her truth, which is that the anti-cancer medication she’s taking is making it hard for her to put on weight. Giuliana tells People that the speculation has “gotten out of hand.”
“Some people were saying, ‘The cancer is probably back,’ ” Rancic, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011 and underwent a double mastectomy that year, tells PEOPLE. “And they were accusing me of every eating disorder. I thought to myself, ‘God, if someone really thought I had an eating disorder, what a horrible way to approach it.’ ”
Thankfully, Rancic, 40, is healthy, though she says the cancer-suppressing medication she has been taking since 2012 has had an effect on her body.
“I started noticing that I was eating a lot, but not gaining weight at all,” Rancic says. “I was concerned.”
Her oncologist, Dr. Dev Paul of Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers in Denver, Colorado, informed her that the drug, which can alter metabolism, could cause weight loss.
“It’s really hurtful,” says Rancic of the attention, adding that she had hoped criticism about her appearance would quiet down on its own. “I’m sorry that some people think I’m disgustingly skinny, as they put it, but there’s nothing I can do. I’m lucky that I even have the type of cancer that reacts to the medicine.”
When it comes to her appetite, “I eat more than any of my friends,” she says. “I eat a very robust, healthy, balanced diet and dessert almost every night. I’m not hiding from anything…
“I look in the mirror and it’s hard for me,” she admits. “I am really thin. I want to look fit and beautiful and sexy, and I can’t.”
“I never want my weight to distract people from what I do,” she says. “But it is becoming a distraction, [whenever] I wear something sleeveless, show my arms, my back.”
In fact, Rancic says a major publication was interested in featuring her but backed out, telling her she was “too skinny.”
“That was really hurtful,” she says. “I thought, ‘Wow, I’m on cancer medication. I’m doing the best that I can.’ ”
Despite the public backlash, that mindset has served Rancic well.
“I refuse to be broken [by what people say],” she says. “I have so many beautiful things in my life.”
That must be incredibly hard to deal with for someone in the public eye. Health issues are serious and we never know what is going on with someone. Plus online trolls can be so awful.
On the other side, Giuliana was called too thin before she was diagnosed with cancer. Of course she may have been thin because of the then-undiagnosed cancer, so it’s unfair either way. Giuliana admitted back in early 2010 that her doctor wanted her to gain 10 pounds to increase her chances of conceiving a baby. She would only gain five, citing the fact that she worked in an image-focused industry. She defended herself against similar criticism back in early 2011 too, saying that Rachel Zoe and Victoria Beckham were also very thin and were able to conceive children.
Also, she has a diet and fitness blog and she’s written in the past about following a very low calorie diet to the point of eschewing any croutons on her salad, never having butter, and insisting on steamed vegetables always. (Here’s a look at her now-deleted 2009 diet plan via The Wayback Machine. Copy and paste it somewhere to see.) As much as she says she eats whatever she wants and cannot gain weight, it just doesn’t ring true. I do hope she’s ok and that she’s able to gain some weight for her health and well being.
Giuliana is addressing this due to the response over this recent Instagram photo she posted. Radar called her not “much larger than her 2-year Duke” and in another post called her “boney and frail”. Some Instagram commenters were ruder.
photo credit: WENN.com and FameFlynet
Look at how big her wedding ring is on her finger. I hope this is not another Karen Carpenter saga. Very sad. Her Son’s little arm is bigger than hers.
Go look at Karen Carpenter pic, they are very similar. The cheeks are so similar and the arms. Actually and not even tryng to be funny Karen Carpenter looks heavier.
I believe some drugs can cause weight loss if this drug that she is taking make her this skinny then why aren’t drug companies trying to market this for weight loss? It’s all about money with drug companies.
Not to suggest she is lying but my best friend had breast cancer and a double mastectomy and she doesn’t take anti cancer drugs. What are those? Why aren’t we all on them?
The medication I’m thinking of is tamoxifen. While weight gain or loss can be a (minor) side effect, it has much, much worse issues due to stripping the hormones from the body. Trust me, no one would want to take this drug unless they had to, but I don’t think extreme weight loss is generally a common side effect.
Yikes..I’m sorry that you have to go through the unpleasant side effects.
I kind of think she isn’t being truthful. She really seems to be in denial. If anyone has watched her reality show, she seems obsessed with what she eats and all her exercising. I still can’t forget watching her eat cereal, using water instead of milk. And her being somewhat defensive when her doctor wanted her to gain weight.
she has that anorexic furry face..so sad
What is an anorexic furry face?
Anorexics or anyone basically starving to death can’t regulate their temperature well, so they grow fine hair all over.
It’s called lanugo, the hairs. It’s your body’s way of trying to keep itself warm when it percieves starvation and underweight. They get it all over, and its a very telltale sign of chronic malnutrition and starvation as opposed to something more acute.
There is something she can do. She can face the facts that she has an ED and needs help. If she doesn’t she won’t be around to see her sweet baby graduate from high school. She needs to take a leave of absence from her job (maybe quit altogether!) and try to get her health back. This isn’t from the drugs, it’s an ED and she can’t resolve this on her own. It’s going to be a life-long struggle, but if she’s determined she can regain her health. Otherwise, we will be reading her obituary in a few years. It is that serious. E! should be giving her a medical leave immediately.
yeah this denial is going to kill her.
I don’t believe her, sorry. The evidence built up over the years would support she has always had issues with eating and food (that eating plan is straight up trigger for eating disorders) however until she is able to acknowledge them and stop hiding behind another illness she wont ever start to recover.
I feel for her, honestly.
+1. In my experience with friends with EDs, they use anything they can to justify their behavior, including illness and medications. If she really ate as decadently as she claims to, no medication could still make her that skinny.
I agree. I know nothing about her cancer or medication….but….I call bs on this story. It’s very sad.
Agreed. I feel for her, too, because she seems so deeply in denial and so utterly fragile.
I don’t beleive her either. I’m not out to “break” her and I hope she never feels broken by how others perceive her. I do hope that she gets therapy that might help her see herself in a different light. She has had issues with food, eating, and image for as long as I’ve seen her in the industry. Her skinniness is intentional on some level, but I agree she is in denial. Her face is actually looking worse these days even though she doesn’t seem any skinnier body-wise and I’m not sure what that is. At first I thought she had work done, but that’s not it. She’s getting the sunken look. I wonder if, without makeup, she has dark rings under her eyes – another sign of malnutrition.
It is disturbing to hear her stick up for not gaining weight when she was advised to do so by her doctor in order to get pregnant for a child she seemed to want so badly. To know she refused to gain 10 lbs, and would only gain 5 lbs is bad enough, but to hear her say that line about Victoria Beckham and Rachel Zoe having babies while being skinny is just an odd viewpoint. Did she want to get pregnant or not? If yes, then do what you need to do to acheive your goal. Beckham and Zoe had no fertility issues to speak of. And they did get flack for not gaining weight. I remember Victoria being horribly thin in her 8th and 9th month of pregnancy with on of her boys and the many articles about how her image shouldn’t matter because 3rd term babies need to develop a fat layer that they cannot if their mother isn’t taking in enough to allow for it. It’s like Rancic saw that situation as an incentive rather than a caution.
Honestly the best thing she could do is get out of show biz. Maybe she would have eating issues no matter her job, but being in the spotlight can’t help and it is definitely her justification these days.
excellent insights. At the very least she should take a leave of absence until she regains her health. If she doesn’t, my fear is we’ll be reading an obit before long.
Once upon at time she use to look like a very normal young girl, early on when she enter E with no obvious weight issues. In what ever she does lately I hope she will get better, because we all been there in the way. Eating disorder are way more than just dieting, we all know that. I have few gfs who are going trough the same thing and it is ongoing battle. It doesn’t get better for them really if they are being scrutinized by people around them, in her case by media.
Agreed – I think she has a tall, slim body type which works well in entertainment media, but now she is a horror show and everyone can see it. If the camera adds ten pounds imagine what she looks like in person, yikes!!
Agreed. I’d be way more inclined to fully believe her if the history of eating issues wasn’t there before. I feel bad saying that, but can’t help it. I wish her the best, and hope her health improves.
Totally agree…
You are not alone, I have a difficult time believing her as well.
I remember reading once that the doctor told her to gain weight in order to conceive and she refused to oblige. Instead she opted to flood her body with hormones to pump out egg production which I think could have lead to her breast cancer.
She obviously has issues and doesn’t want to deal with them. While it is very sad, it is difficult to have pity for her after awhile.
I heard something, also, about treatments she took, to conceive, had side effects that could have very well led to breast cancer. If that’s true, that would be horrible.
I don’t believe her for a minute.
By making the weight loss a “medical
issue” she can’t be fired from E.
Not sure it’s true that she can’t be fired. If she has job performance issues, she could be fired separate from the medical issue unless she can prove that the performance was resulting from the medical issue. In that case, she might be asked to treat the medical condition impacting job performance and if she refused, she could lose her job. I’m thinking of alcoholics/addicts being given the option of successful completion of rehab or lose their job if they won’t comply. That happens and there’s an industry built up to help employers deal with it properly so it doesn’t discriminate against the employee, yet manages the employer’s goals as well.
CAVEAT: I’ve got no idea if she’s having job performance issues as a result of this or not as a result of this. I’m just responding to a general statement.
Agreed. I struggled with an ED and I used the whole “my meds make me sick and lose weight” excuse and people would back off because I have an autoimmune disease so people don’t really know much about the drugs so they really couldn’t argue. If she hadn’t had the blog with her food diary and freaked out so much about gaining weight to have a child I might believe her but no. I just hope she gets help.
I don’t believe her. There are SO many other ways to prevent cancer than taking “anti-cancer medication”. She’s so painfully thin that her head looks too big for her body.
She’s very thin. I’m torn on this one because I don’t think anyone should be shamed over their body, but on the other hand she has a job where she slams people for how they look. I mean very recently she said some rude comments and got in trouble for it.
+1
Her continued fame is because of her mean comments about other people. It seems odd that her entire interview is about compassion and empathy. *Insert something here about glass houses & stones…
This. She is part of a network that feeds of body-shaming celebrities. And she’s supposed to get a pass?
I’m sure her health issues have affected her weight but I also believe her weight is a health issue. I don’t believe she is naturally that thin. Most people that I know that are naturally thin still look like they’re supposed to be that size, which isn’t true in her case.
My issue isn’t with how she looks–it’s that she is claiming to be healthy when I very much doubt that she is, whether it be cancer, an eating disorder or a combination of the two.
I’ve never seen her show so I’m curious – when she slams people for their appearance, is it just their clothes/fashion, or is it specifically to point out their actual bodily “flaws” like crows feet, cellulite, fat rolls, etc.? I get that she makes a living critiquing others, but there’s a difference in saying someone’s suit could use some tailoring and making fun of someone’s jiggly arm fat. And if it is indeed the case that her body is reacting to her meds, or even that she does have an eating disorder, it seems especially mean-spirited to point out constantly how sickly she looks. Lem, I agree that it is problematic if she is claiming to be healthy, but aren’t EDs considered a mental health issue – like she sees herself as doing just fine with her eating habits, even if everyone else balks at the idea of eating only a few hundred calories per day? I just don’t know which way to go on this one.
I think her problems may go deeper than medication, but I’m sorry she is feeling hurt by the talk. I do honestly believe some people are truly concerned. I admit some are just mean. I hope she can find a way to stay heathy in both mind and body for her sake, and her little boy’s.
GNAT
I feel the same. If this industry and her career really are doing this to her she needs to step away. Better to be healthy and around for your child than to remain in a position that breaks you down physically and mentally.
And on a side note I don’t buy her reasoning. She has barely any muscle mass anymore. That’s starving the body on top of anything else.
I agree with that as well. I think she has other problems than medication. I also have the impression that lots of people are honestly concerned about her. She really started looking gaunt about 6 months ago to the point where images from WW2 come to mind.
I’m not sure I believe her explanation, either. She claimed last week that ate a lot and just has a high metabolism and that was her ‘truth’. Now she comes out with this? Just exactly what drugs is she taking if she wants to tell her story? It’s vague, just the way she wants it.
Eating disorders are horrid, and victims are often in denial. If she was having proper medical care now, her doctor would figure out a way to put more weight on her. I just hope the cancer hasn’t returned, because I’ve seen this sort of wasting happen to cancer patients…..and they turn skeletal just like she is right now. If I was her good friend, I’d be hauling her into the doctor sooner rather than later.
“I thought to myself, ‘God, if someone really thought I had an eating disorder, what a horrible way to approach it.” I definitely agree with her about this.
True. But I have known many women that took the same drug as her, including my mother. None of them lost weight like this. (My mom had the side effect of not being able to stand smoke which helped me quit. And my mom is a 26 year survivor.) Unfortunately, I believe this woman has a eating disorder and is not being honest with herself.
Did she say what drug she was taking or were people just speculating based on personal experiences or what they heard.
I quickly googled, and she mentioned tamoxiflen in a couple of old interviews. I guess she could’ve changed meds but there are really only a handful of options and they have similar actions/side effects. So it’s really not a huge jump to generalise. It’s like hearing that someone took a pain killer for a headache, and assuming it was an aspirin. You’d probably be close enough.
I’m sorry for her , tbh her words feel disingenuous as hell knowing what we know about her particularity with eating and looks and exercising
Agreed. It doesn’t feel right to say, “oh I don’t believe her” because the discussion now revolves around such a serious subject as cancer. But her words also don’t ring true to me. And it’s almost upsetting. It feels as if, in this interview, she’s set it up in such a way that if she gets called out on her eating habits, she can automatically play the victim and say “I was talking about my cancer, you a$$holes.” I do feel sorry for her and her illness, but the way she’s approached this discussion makes me angry.
+1
that’s why it’s the perfect PR response
This was such an uncomfortable read for me.
I’ll probably get a rash of sh*t for saying this, but as someone who’s struggled with an ED, we can smell our own, if you know what I mean.
Everything she said hit way too close to home for me.
I truly hope she gets help.
I can only imagine, Kitten. Hugs and bowls 4 u. ❤️
Yeah, I read that posting of hers where she details her entire day and it’s nothing but “fat/calories = evil”. Every product or food she mentions also has a sidenote describing how good it is at suppressing appetite or flushing out fat or killing sugar cravings. And it’s loaded with furtive tactics – “eat only half of a SIDE of pasta and then distribute the rest around the table both to appear generous and to cut calories”. There’s nothing healthy about what she’s doing (or was doing). This goes way beyond a devotion to clean, balanced living and veers deeply into obsession.
HA yep, we can. I saw it when I was in the midst of my own in 2010, and even I recognized how skewed her thinking was. I remember thinking, “At least I’m not THAT bad” but of course, I was in other ways.
Much love to you Kitten x
I think you are probably right, Kitten. Ever since I heard the part about being unable to force herself to gain more than five pounds, I have thought so. I’m so sorry you have had these painful struggles. I’m sure they do give you insight into someone else’s reasoning.
Big snuggly bear hugs to you, Kitten.
Happy thoughts to you Kitten.
And agree. It’s just the most convenient reason to excuse her appearance.
Hugs to you Kitten – I too smell the real reason behind her weight issues and wish her, AND YOU, much love.
Add me to the smellers! I didn’t get a full blown ED but I can smell another alcoholic a mile off. 🙂
Best to you, Kitten. It can’t be easy. It’s really an uncomfortable article to read for me as well. I join you, and all the others, feeling she isn’t telling the real story.
I struggled with one for many many years and I feel the same as you have expressed here. I feel bad for her, but she clearly has more going on here then medication symptoms in my opinion. Denial was my best friend also…
The sharing a dish with people is something karen carpenter did according to an article I read. Her mom caught onto her and would start sharing her own food to try to get her to eat.
I couldn’t agree more. I have a sixth sense about someone with ED and someone who is naturally thin and there is definitely a difference.
Yes kitten, you’re right, we can smell our own. This is bad. I too have struggled many years with an ED and this was a hard read for me as well. For me it was denial, sure. But also self loathing and definitely control. I was down to 98 lbs before I was hospitalized the first time. And truthfully, I knew I was thin, but not THAT thin. I really didn’t see it. When I looked in the mirror mostly I just saw dead eyes. This breaks my heart and scares me. I can’t imagine being in the public eye if you’re suffering from an ED. Heck, it took me 3 months of intense therapy before I even called it that!! I’ve gained 10lbs since then, and try hard to maintain that weight, but it can be difficult.
Sorry for the ramble. This is something that is still very raw for me. I hope she somehow gets the help she needs.
Kitten, I totally respect your radar. I’m also skeptical because she has such a history of making up excuses for what is clearly an unhealthy condition. This isn’t about body shaming-this is discussion of a disease with a specific physical manifestation.
Whether it is the cancer or an ED obviously there is something going on. This constant public speculation just doesn’t seem to be productive to her or anyone with either health issue. I know the gossip sites often make light of people’s appearances, but this seems to be serious, and I wish people would let it go. The reality is only she has the ability to help whatever the issue is. If it is cancer hopefully they can find a way to make the side effects of the drug not as bad, and if it is an ED she needs help to correct that, and no amount of badgering from the public would world. Hopefully for the sake of her family she is able to do this.
This interview made me uncomfortable and somewhat disgusted. It just seems like she’s using cancer as an excuse, and that sickens me. It must be extremely difficult and stressful to know that your cancer could come back at any time, especially when you have a family, but at the same time there is overwhelming evidence that she’s obsessed with her weight. Even if the info about her medication were true, it just seems like a convenient excuse.
Aren’t cancer patients encouraged to maintain as healthy a weight as possible? Surely her physician could prescribe a medication to increase her appetite if her story were true. (I don’t believe her. She looks very ill. She will die from her anorexia before the cancer if she can’t get help soon.)
HH
I agree. Cancer is almost being used as a way to excuse her appearance, redirect her condition of low body weight to her battle with Cancer, and then shame us for commenting on her apearance as if it was only because of her battle with cancer.
That sentence came out weird, but I think my point is in there. Was tough to phrase clearly.
Zwella
1. We can’t know what will be her undoing.
2. There are diet or nutritional plans/guidelines for those hoping to battle cancer or stay in remission. The link below does a decent job of collecting a lot of random information and gives a good outline. Ultimately, you want to be healthy. your body needs to be strong. And her body looks very weak. And she acts very weak when on video.
http://www.canceractive.com/cancer-active-page-link.aspx?n=1359
HH, cancer cells feed on glycogen, the storage form of carbohydrate. A high fat, low carb ketogenic diet would be healthier than the low cal, low fat diet she appears to be eating. By forcing her body to burn fat for energy instead of carbs, she’d literally starve her cancer cells.
The healthiness of the low-fat, high carb diet has been debunked with research from the past 20 years, but it takes a long time to steer the ship of Feds / AMA in response to the growing scientific proof that what they’ve been preaching since the 80’s is actually unhealthy. Also, we’ve been taught for so long that fat is evil that it’s hard to overcome that misconception.
I agree with others here — she’s making excuses for her ED. She can put on weight if she’s not battling nausea, which is a common side-effect of cancer meds/treatment.
Too bad carbohydrates and fat are all introduced into the same energy-producing cycle.
I get it, she’s got some health issues that may be messing with her weight. HOWEVER I think we all know she isn’t eager to gain weight because of the industry she’s in, so I only have a little bit of sympathy for her. I think people who criticize her weight are more concerned rather than trolling (of course there’s always trolls), but I can’t imagine her in her kitchen swallowing fattening foods bemoaning the fact that she can’t gain weight. I just don’t see it
Looking at the photos from the older blog post (about her diet and fitness blog), you can really see that she is MUCH thinner now. And people were already saying she was too thin THEN. While medication may be keeping her weight down now, given her previous statements about her diet and exercise, I’m really doubtful she’s doing that much to combat the problem.
She could lay off on the 5 mile runs every morning.
oh, wow! she does that? if so, she doesn’t want to gain weight…
I run 5 every morning (and husband shoots for 10 the mad man). It’s like my morning coffee. And i’d rather not lose anymore weight, but i’m not going to let my level of cardio, speed work reduce.
She needs to eat more though. Her calorie restrictions that she completely admits to is greater a concern than her runs.
It’s not her run that’s causing the weight loss, it’s the low cal diet. I run longer than that and have no problem gaining weight if I’m not paying close attention to what I eat.
Not willing to put on 10 pounds to increase the chance of conception is all I need to know about this woman.
This is going to end in tears.
word.
I agree. To be that worried that 5 lbs would ruin her career when the chance at having baby was weighing in the balance says a lot. She has major image issues going on and needs some industrial strength therapy if she’s going to get better. I hope she has people willing to intervene and speak truth into her life so she can get the help she needs.
Here’s the thing – I don’t doubt that she is naturally thin and small.
But does anybody believe this is solely due to meds? That diet plan was from way before she ever struggled with cancer (and for what it’s worth, I always recall her saying her cancer was in the very early stages when it was detected – so probably not having any major impact on her weight at that point). And that diet plan is crazy restrictive. Heavy carb restriction, almost zero fats – not healthy. That’s not the diet of a person who has a healthy relationship with food. And on the show, her husband used to plead with her to eat. They actually allowed this to be filmed.
I don’t doubt that her health issues have an impact. But I find it really hard to believe that there’s no disordered eating going on there. I’d respect her more if she just came out and admitted it and said, “I’m working on it.” At least then people would maybe have some more respect for her. I think being mean about it is counter-productive, but there are also a lot of people who have genuine concern for her.
I just need to add that last picture of her is slightly sad. It looks like her eyes are starting to sink, which happens a lot when one reaches a certain level of skinniness. She looks older than she is!
I think her feelings about hurtful comments would mean more if she didn’t make (part of) her living, making judgy comments about the appearance of other people. That being said, I’m not buying it. As noted, she’s had food issues for a while now. The fact that she couldn’t bring herself to gain 10 lbs in order to conceive a child still boggles my mind.
I went through a terrible break-up, and whereas some people ‘eat their feelings’, I lose my appetite all together. I barely ate and ended up losing almost 40 lbs within a couple months. I knew I looked awful, and everyone around me showed their concern, but even after things got better in my life, I still couldn’t put the weight back on. I would eat high calorie foods ALL day, and would somehow end up losing even more weight. I’m 5’6 and was barely a 100 lbs. I’m currently 7 months pregnant with my 1st child, and my appetite & weight has finally returned (and then some) 🙂
Basically, I feel for her. I don’t always agree with her as a person and the things that she says, but I can understand the stress of having your body not look the way you want it to, no matter how hard you try to change that. She might be lying or not, but I’ll say that I understand how awful it feels when someone says you’re “disgustingly” anything. Not all ‘skinny’ girls love to be that way!
Unless you were accurately tracking everything you ate and drank, you can’t be sure you were eating as much as you thought you were. I go back to tracking food religiously on a phone app when I’m having problems eating due to illness or physical discomfort or stress, since my appetite also goes to zero under such circumstances. It’s the only way to really know that I’m getting enough calories and protein. The odds are very high that you just needed more food when you couldn’t get your weight back up earlier. You may also have been burning more calories under stress. An easy way to up the calories is to up the fat if more protein or carbohydrate doesn’t appeal. Peanut butter, nut/seed butters are easy to eat. Even just adding coconut oil to things can help – very digestible compared to other fats, it’s used post-surgery for that reason. Hopefully all will stay well now, but this might be helpful to try in case the problem recurs.
I have always liked her and and applaud her for making it all on her own, she earned her career. i think she is up in arms, being crazy Norma Desmond on the E! Channel, defying and will not gracefully step back behind the curtain. It’s pretty obvious she is not taking aging well and all the wannabe’s desperately vying for her job. I actually do empathize with her situation.
We look up to you, G, and want you to accept and love yourself and be healthy for your son.
I fear that she is not being truthful, and I really do want to believe her. Stress can he a killer, so for her sake maybe take a step back and regroup, and get healthy again. Being famous is great and all, but all for nothing, if you are not around to witness. We all know how the Karen Carpenter story ends.
Please get healthy and take some time off. We are rooting for you. <3
I feel absolutely horrible that she went through such a public battle with cancer. I wouldn’t wish that on anybody. I also have nothing but respect and admiration for the way she advocated for breast cancer awareness. I am also sorry to say that I don’t believe anything she says in regards to her weight. She is obviously restricting her calorie intake. She simply doesn’t look healthy to me. I hope her husband or other family members and friends step in before something horrible happens. I am sending nothing but positive and hopeful vibes her way. Hopefully she will realize that she is a beautiful woman and doesn’t need to be rail thin to prove it.
Agree with everything you’ve said.
She likes to be stick thin and thinks it’s attactive. She has a distorted body image.
Actually, she could be telling the truth about that. A lot of people with eating disorders can be disturbed by their own thinness. Physically, it’s pretty uncomfortable to do anything. There are moments where you see yourself and go, “shit, that shouldn’t be showing,” but in the next, you’ll find a flaw and that’ll reinforce all of your negative behavior.
I keep wondering what her husband’s take is on this. I certainly hope he is not in denial. A partner’s viewpoint with a compassionate approach is effective. I can’t imagine her husband not seeing a problem here, but does he address it or just humor her? He needs to be honest and tell her how he feels in a way that doesn’t shame her or make her feel insecure – if that’s possible.
I can understand her feeling hurt by judgments because that’s called being human, but why is she on a show like E!Fashion Police which constantly judges people if other people passing judgment on her is something she finds problematic? There’s an irony or lack of self-awareness there that sort of bugs me when it comes to her in particular when she discusses the feelings of hurt that come with people’s judgments.
However, if Angelina Jolie discussed something like this, I wouldn’t feel bugged, since she’s not on a show like E!Fashion Police.
Ok, Let’s dive into this can of worms.
Jolie gains weight. In her younger days as a teen she looked totally healthy, but her arms and legs were still very thin. The Tomb Raider days same thing. And it was noted she would gain all her weight in her midsection and it wouldn’t go to her limbs as much. Some women are really just like this. So, her limbs have appeared thinner than what some would consider more well proportioned shapes.
In my line of work I see this often. It’s just how a body stores fats.
Now, that’s not to say she doesn’t appear very underweight at times. And she’s been very candid with this. It’s not an ed as much as it appears to be stress.
Her UN work she would give away her food and water to those starving. She would become weak and those with her would beg her to eat. And she would.
You can spin this any way you like. These 2 women have extremely different body types. Both underwent very different procedures with different levels of trauma on the body. And both appear to be completely different regarding energy levels. Rancic looks light headed when she stands up. I haven’t seen that of Jolie at all. And for whatever reason people remember Jolie as bigger than she was. Many thought she had c-cups, but she never passed b in reality.
So, the issue might be disregarded by some, but that’s an extreme. At best i’d say Jolie has disordered eating. Not an eating disorder. And as far as body dysmorphia Rancic has said she views herself as needing improvement to reduce weight. Red flag.
@FLORC
Normally I wouldn’t address the issue of Jolie. But I did see a photo of Jolie in her early party days in Dlisted comments a few months ago and she was a nice healthy weight- all over. I wish I’d saved the pic.
I think that Rancic has an eating disorder. She looks skeletal. I don’t care how anyone spins it.
Sorry, I just don’t believe her. Her doctor would advise a different diet to counter the effects of the drug. I have a friend with an aggressive Cancer who lost weight too due to the drugs and chemo. Her oncologist had her see a nutritionist to help her maintain weight during this arduous process. Giuliani doesn’t want to gain weight and until she acknowledges her weight issues, she will never get better.
She wasn’t overweight before she had cancer. The medicine did the same thing to my aunt.
There’s no need to be so mean and say a skinny person looks disgusting and must have an eating disorder.
It’s convenient and a sympathy-grab for her to pick the one of MANY tamoxifen side-effects to explain how she looks (assuming that’s what she’s taking). Had she done chemo I might believe her more due to its ravaging effects. And I say this having done both chemo and tamoxifen. From the reading I’ve done here on CB by posters who are so familiar with ED’s, I’m not buying her excuses. She’s just trying to save her career at this point. All, of course, imho.
If anything, I would guess she’s afraid of weight gain with this drug, so she’s being extra careful not to. She was horrified at the idea of gaining 10 lbs to help her conceive, so I honestly just don’t think she’s stuffing her face all day and not gaining weight. I personally don’t think she’s way too thin, but I think she could get that way if she’s not careful.
There is a reason CDAN calls People Mag “Kneepads Magazine” and it’s because they will print whatever a publicist asks them to. This is BS from the E! network to save G’s face so they can keep her on their show.
Past pictures show her looking quite healthy, so the naturally skinny story really doesn’t hold. She looks scary thin in the pic with her child..perhaps she should see comments as concern..I know some are just mean..but I’m sure there are people around her who do care.
It’s not impossible to have trouble gaining weight on medication, but generally it’s just the opposite problem. Most people have trouble avoiding weight gain, including on anti-cancer drugs.
With her history of over-exercising and under-eating, and pretending to “eat a lot” while seriously restricting food- I have to take what she says with a cup of salt. Her weight loss may be a combination of interference from the drug and her continued pattern of deliberate food restriction. I don’t know which drug she is taking, but when the diabetes drug metformin is used to prevent cancer recurrence (including breast cancer), weight loss is mentioned as a possible side effect but the recommendation is against its use in that case for an underweight individual. She is so seriously underweight that I wonder about her medical supervision with the drug. Good health is still the best prevention for cancer recurrence, and she does not look healthy at that weight. That putts the body under a lot of stress, which does not support the immune system.
She doesn’t mention any effect on appetite or ability to keep food down from the medication, but rather claims to eat a lot of food. Regardless of medication, the laws of thermodynamics still apply. If she has lost weight and can’t regain it, she is not eating enough food for her activity level. If she didn’t have a long history of an eating disorder, I wouldn’t be so suspicious although I would still wonder why she doesn’t just add some high calorie smoothies or shakes to her diet.
Yes, I hesitate to say this, and could be completely wrong, because there are dozens if not hundreds of cancer medications, but I have been on three different meds since my breast cancer, and they all have the side effect of weight gain. I have never heard of one having weight loss as a side-effect. That doesn’t mean it isn’t true, but I did think “hmm.”
I agree. If you are taking in more calories than you burn off, you will gain weight. My mom did tamoxifen and two other anti- estrogen medications after her breast cancer diagnosis. She lost weight from chemotherapy, and food never tasted the same again, but eventually she would gain after the horrible side effects of the chemo wore off.
I wanted to say this. Everyone I know gains weight from these meds. It is just the price you pay. The. only time I have ever seen a cancer patient lose weight was when they were still actively fighting the disease, still in the throes of it, not when they were in remission. Given her already low weight, I would assume a dr. would prescribe something that wouldn’t cause weight loss.
This isn’t body shaming, this is oh my god lady you’re going to die if you don’t do something! I don’t believe her that she’s concerned about her thinness because of her history as stated in the article, she was always too thin, and if she believed what she said that she knows she’s too thin but can’t do anything about it, she wouldn’t wear clothes that show off her thinness. She’s seeking attention by going sleeveless and backless.
Agreed. I think she just doesn’t want people talking about it or talking to her about it. She doens’t want to be rejected by possible guests/interviewees or lose her job. I would be hurt if I were called “disgustingly” anything, but I don’t think her problem is being hurt by it. I think her problem is not wanting to face it and not wanting to hear it. It seems much more about her just wanting to be left alone to do as she likes with no repercussions. And that, is very much an ED symptom. When it comes to life threatening conditions like anorexia and bulemia, there is no longer room for political correctness. She needs honesty even if she doesn’t like it, otherwise, everybody is just enabling her.
There’s a difference between being thin and literally looking like a gust of wind would blow you over. She is very frail looking. I will give her the benefit of the doubt about her medications–I’m no physician to say yes or no to that. But she *does* have a proven history of being obsessed with her caloric intake. If she doesn’t have an eating disorder, she certainly has an unhealthy way of approaching nutrition. And it should be the opposite when are dealing with issues regarding cancer and fertility.
People are such hypocrites and are disgusting feeling the need to be experts and to slam her for being skinny. Yet, on Rebel Wilsons post everyone is totally cool with her being completely overweight. It’s such BS.
Funny, my overwhelming impression of the Rebel Wilson post was people saying she couldn’t be healthy because she’s obese. Were we visiting the same page?
None of us are slamming her. We’re concerned for her. Most of us have had experience either with ourselves or a loved one suffering from an eating disorder. My own sister died of eating disorders so my heart breaks every time I see someone who is clearly anorexic and I only hope Giuliana gets the help she needs.
I’m sorry you lost your sister, that must really be awful. However, if you don’t find people picking a woman apart and calling her disgusting, slamming, then maybe you don’t know what it is. GR should not be put down about something like her weight whether it’s her medicine or an ED. None of our business, but what ever the cause, I hope it’s alright.
Would you want people putting you down, hurting you, and assuming the worse?
@Kate, you’re missing the point. Nobody here is slamming her or putting her down for her shockingly thin frame, nor is she being “skinny shamed” on any other websites. She is suffering from a dangerous eating disorder and unless she wants to live to see her children grow up she needs to get help; from her husband, from the network executives, from her friends and colleagues, because most of us have experience with anorexia and bulimia, either suffering ourselves or knowing a loved one who lost the battle, like my sister. We are not assuming the worst, hurting her or putting her down, we are knowledgeable people who understand the lies and self-delusion that people with eating disorders go through to hide their affliction.
Every post on this thread was thoughtful and compassionate. Acknowleding she has an issue and not being gullible re her excuses and justifications is not “slamming.” She needs honesty…kindly put, but honesty. Pussy-footing around it only allows her continue a warped perception of herself and her habits. It is no different than seeing a love one with say a newly formed mole on their face that might be cancerous. If your loved one said they like the mole, should you keep your mouth shut or be honest and tell them to get help because it might kill them? That is concern – not slamming.
We must not be reading the same threads. I don’t think anyone on here is slamming her, and I think most people on the Rebel thread agreed that her weight isn’t healthy. You are not being objective about this.
Confirmation bias much? If you actually bothered to read most of the comments on Rebel Wilson’s thread, you would see that her weight is very much discussed and that no one has denied that she is obese.
Nah… She was like this before cancer. There’s no reason why people should pick her apart publicly, because all it does is fuel defensiveness. I feel badly for her, because I know what it’s like to be trapped in an anorexic mindset. You are TRAPPED. It’s not as easy as just eating more. But if she truly were eating enough and this was just a side effect of her meds, she wouldn’t look *that* gaunt. I’m afraid of what she must look like without makeup, because even that isn’t covering up what is happening to her body.
One thing she said is completely true: she’s lucky that her cancer responds to medication.
I’m with most of you guys. I know she had cancer, and I know what a toll that takes. I also know what an ED looks like and the two are not mutually exclusive. I think we all either know or are someone with ED/issues. I hope she gets healp, and that she starts living the lifestyle she keeps talking about.
She didn’t have full blown cancer really, she had very early stages of cancer which were treated.
A) I’m sitting next to an MD, and he says if that were his patient he would put them on different drugs (not knowing anything about her cancer, so assuming that is an option) he says she is too thin, and her body wouldn’t be able to fight anything else that might come around. He says it would not be uncommon for someone in this situation to get checked into the hospital, so they could monitor her eating, and see if they could help her gain a few lbs. this also shows doctors if the drugs are the issue, or if there is something else at play.
B) this MD knows I love celebrity gossip, and told me ages ago that surrogates are incredibly common in Hollywood and Beverly Hills. Much more so than anyone claims. I have always suspected that Rachel Zoe used a surrogate, as she also always struck me as having an ED, or at least being much too this to sustain a pregnancy. I wouldn’t be surprised if Victoria Beckham used one for her last pregnancy, although I don’t think she did for all of them.
bullsh*t. whole article (people). will someone help this woman? she does not need to be in the entertainment industry. with all the pressure on being thin, she had issues to begin with. note to self: people sells bs stories fed to them by the star and their agenda. i hope she realizes she needs help before it’s too late.
The first indication of an eating disorder, an addiction or the like is denial. And this woman is clearly in denial. The unfortunate thing is that she probably doesn’t see herself as having an eating disorder and probably doesn’t see herself as thin as we do. I hope she gets the help she needs because frankly I just don’t believe her. I know plenty of people who are naturally thin and people often mistake their thinness for an ED when it is health related but for a woman who has made very clear her desire to stay thin for her ‘image’ I have little doubt that she is suffering from an eating disorder.
I think a doctor would work with the patient if they were so frail. Different meds or special weight gaining diet. Really sorry to hear this but I also call BS on the reasoning.
Don’t sufferers sometimes relish this attention like she is getting “you are too skinny, – eat a hamburger” etc. Doesn’t that motivate them to continue and try harder? Seriously hope her hubby and family are paying attention.
If she is feeding this line of reasoning to E I don’t know if they can do anything.
If her employer cared about the message they were sending to their viewing public, they could absolutely say to her, “We care about you, we’re concerned for your health, and you cannot come back to work until you have dealt with this problem. We will keep your job for you and spout whatever excuse we come up with, but you need to get help before this kills you.”
I don’t like her. She’s too try hard.
When it comes to her appetite, “I eat more than any of my friends,” she says.
She very well may, but that doesn’t mean she eats enough to be healthy. Her friends may eat less than she does because they are anorexic or have an eating disorder, too.
She could be eating a lot but how calorie dense is it? I watched a documentary once following several women battling EDs and the thing that shocked me the most was one woman who had a dinner plate piled with a curry she’d made. I was wondering how she managed it until the therapist revealed it was only 200cal because it was all vegetables with a thin sauce.
Just my opinion here… I think she’s a liar. Even if she’s delusional, she still has to know she’s lying or else she’s completely off the deep end.
She used to weigh more in the past. There’s photos of it on the internet.
If she’s on a strict diet and doing mainly weight-losing exercises (instead of just mainly toning exercises) to ensure she doesn’t gain weight on top of what she says is meds that make her loose weight, then she has to know she’s making conscious decisions to loose weight.
I think she should have gone public about her health issues a long time ago instead of ignoring the situation. She probably would have gotten more sympathy and compassion then getting all those negative comments. Nobody would have said anything if she was just honest about it. People will speculate and assume whatever they want if she doesn’t say anything.
God bless her, it’s always excuses. I mean that meal plan is an Anorexics guide to eating. She is obsessed with every single ounce.
If she genuinely is eating as much as she says and genuinely still constantly losing weight then she really does need to find a new doctor.
I lost my only daughter to cancer. She was on a protocol of drugs with chemo and she had radiation. The meds she took literally packed on weight, not what G is saying. The meds caused tons of side effects but didn’t cause weight loss. Until and unless she can be honest with herself, this is going to end badly. She appears to be going downhill fast, my heart and prayers go out to her.
So sorry for your loss Janie.
She deserves this, that’s some hardcore rationalisation going on there and I say that as someone who was thin shamed for YEARS I just had a very small bone structure and very fast metabolism. Its obvious she has issues with food – I ate enough to fill 3 large truckers and I still couldnt put on weight, she eats half a carrot every now and then – and yes she DOES look the same size as her kid and is frail – look at the bone structure on her face – that’s not ordinary small bones problem – she looks like Lena Zavaroni.
Actually here is an interview with Zavaroni when she was considered ‘better’ and she STILL doesn’t look as ghoulish in the face as Rancic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwcaJDp4QGg
My cousin has been battling breast cancer on and off for several years and still remains a touch overweight. I don’t buy the cancer, she can’t gain weight bs. She has ED. No body shaming here, she is not going to be with us because she is doing horrible things to her organs/bones. Her figure is alarming and worries me that people aspire to be as thin as her (particularly my coworker who is under 100 lbs and picks at her food everyday). I hope someone intervenes. I cannot imagine what her husband must go through.
If she ate good carbs and protein, she’d gain muscle mass. I am afraid it is her eating disorder doing the talking here.
I’m sorry but she is so fugly, she reminds me of a bobble head!!!
Better to look like a bobble head than a ….
Enough of the double standards.Where are the calls for intervention for obese celebs? Why is it OK to call skinny celebs names? Compare the number of obesity related deaths to deaths related to anorexia.So why does this woman’s unhealthy appearance garner more comments than morbid obesity?
Kelly Clarkson? Fat and obese (the latter are few and between in celebrities world) stars are constantly pounded for their looks, so not sure what are you complaining about here.
Obesity is a condition that generally takes years to greatly impact, unless is gross, with slow burning problems like diabetes, high cholesterol, pressure on joints. Severe Anorexia can mean death in a matter of months. There’s a difference.
Who exactly are the obese celebrities aside from Melissa McCarthy? “Celebrity culture” doesn’t exactly embrace those who aren’t skinny by society’s standards.
while I do think that body-shaming is wrong……..it physicially hurts me to see her pictures, because she’s so thin. I’ve been on that road, and it was traumatic to me.
For someone who gets hurt feelings over criticism, she should take a long hard look at how she makes her money.
I believe that she might be telling the truth. While she definitely was skinny before b/c she starved herself and worked out like mad, cancer and the treatment of it is a serious, very heavy stuff.
Very ironic how she complains about people judging her on her appearance, yet she judges peoples’ appearance FOR A LIVING.
Yes, there is something you can do about it: it’s called stop eating “healthy”. Stop limiting yourself. You can’t tell me that when she eats, she eats whatever she wants. I GUARANTEE she has a weight complex and thinks about what she should or shouldn’t eat; that’s the problem. Don’t complain about how there’s nothing you can do about it when you are fully contributing to it. Get help, for Christ sake.
I dunno. Hard to say, I guess. I’ve seen folks on cancer-related medications get pretty damn scary skinny. Either way – eating disorder and/or dealing with cancer effects – she deserves some compassion. If she is lying about it and it really is the result of an eating disorder, that’s a pretty serious thing, but I’d still give her more credit than someone like Vicky Becks who won’t say “yeah, you know what, this is what too skinny looks like., and it’s NOT cute.” I mean, obviously it wouldn’t make G the greatest role model, but I think it beats putting out the message that it’s GOOD to look that thin, to be strived for, or some bs about oh i eat pizza all day and never work out and still look skeletal yay me. Even if she’s lying, that’s awful and sad and dangerous, but I’m still glad that she’s saying, at least publicly, that looking like this is NOT the goal/beauty ideal, people.