In addition to booking steadily bigger roles, Shannon Purser (RIP Barb!) is becoming known as an open book. And I mean that in the good way. Shannon has drawn needed attention to issues like anxiety, self-harming and bisexuality. As we’ve said many times, attention leads to awareness. Shannon has once again opened up and this time the subject is body image. After having enough of body shaming comments on her social media, Shannon asked everyone to stop commenting on her figure altogether, assuring people that she doesn’t need anyone else to approve her body.
Shannon Purser says she’s been at “war” with her body since age 11 – but she’s making improvements.
The actress, who played Barb on Stranger Things and is in the new show Rise, called out the body shamers on social media who are only making her self-esteem issues worse.
Purser, 20, tweeted honestly about her insecurities on Tuesday.
“Please do not ever make comments about my weight or tell me that I look good or bad because of it. I look good now. I am happy. I don’t need you to approve my body. Thanks,” she wrote.
Purser added later that she’s been at “war” with her self-image since her middle school years.“My war with my body started at age 11 and soon all I wanted was to be thin. I’ve struggled with that insecurity almost every day since,” she said. “I still have bad days, but I’m much better now. I hope one day we’ll learn to be kind to our bodies and teach our kids to do the same
She also offered to talk with her followers about confidence and self-esteem – but warned them against criticism.
“That being said, if you ever wanna have a discussion about body positivity – I’m all ears! I just prefer not to hear comments about my body, even if they’re well-intentioned,” she said.
I’ll be honest, body-focused posts are really difficult for me. I, too, have been at war with my body image since my childhood, probably beginning around age eight. And the battle has been unhealthy in all the ways that weight battles usually are. You don’t want to hear the reasons any more than I want to list them. But I feel Shannon here 100%. “Concern” is simply not a plausible reason for a stranger to mention someone’s weight. It may sound strange to hear someone say they don’t want compliments on their figure but understand that if this is truly a battle for them, they aren’t hearing a compliment in the way you intend it. Even kind words can become something the person uses against themselves. I’m thrilled Shannon said that she looks good to herself and is happy. I’m sure that was a long road for her to get to that place and I applaud all the work it must have taken her to get there.
Photo credit: WENN Photos
I get it. Being a chubby child my parents forced me on strict diets from age six. I had not even developed an image of myself, yet I was made feel that there is something wrong with me and that I needed to change in order to be loved by my family. Today I am a fat woman (hey, yo-yo) and I have good and bad days with my body. Like Shannon, I don’t want to hear neither anyone’s concern trolling nor compliments. If you tell me that I look “good” or “healthy” after loosing 20 kilograms in the past years, I’m gonna stare you down while you sink into a deep, deep hole. Because my “weight loss secret” is surviving cancer, f u very much. It is just absurd to hear that being thinner is the best thing my body accomplished. No dude, I freaking LIVE and my body is amazing and resilient!
Also… I want that short geometric dress, please.
Amazing words. Congrats on getting thru.
I feel this in my very bones. I’m glad you’re okay, too 🙂
I read a book called “Diets Don’t Work” that made a great argument that diets CAUSE weight problems. It cited a study where they had a group of underweight people who needed to gain, and they put them on a strict diet. It worked like a charm. They cheated on the diet because they felt deprived and when the diet was “over” they gorged themselves and they all gained weight. Putting children on weight loss diets sets them up on the cycle of self-loathing and dieting (which worsens the problem) for life. I’m with you, sister. My mom took me to Weight Watchers at 8, and both my parents made it clear that “beautiful” was equal to thin, and I was never “thin.”
Mrs Odie I’m currently reading a book called Intuitive Eating and it’s genuinely changing the way I feel and think about food. It’s amazing! It also stresses that diets are toxic and don’t work in the long run. The focus is on really listening to your body, learning to cope with emotions without food, and moving for the joy of it, not as punishment. The goal isn’t necessarily weight loss, but rather getting to your body’s natural set point. I’m trying to unlearn 30 years of messed up thinking 😊
She has really great style! Love all her looks here.
I have also been at war with my body since I was around 10, and both compliments and body shaming affect me in the same way so I prefer when people don’t comment on my body at all because either way it sends me into obsessive thinking and a dark place. I don’t know how people in the public eye do it, hearing comments about their appearance constantly, I wouldn’t know how to handle the scrutiny.
Yep – even positive comments can feed into body shaming. I lost 40lbs over the course of a year due to unhappy circumstances, and it was disheartening to hear people praise that new body, forged in stress, and put down my old, happy body, as if it wasn’t the same body, the same me. Now I’m happier and healthier and gained 15lbs back, I can’t help but notice the compliments have stopped. I certainly will never compliment someone’s appearance again unless it’s to notice something that actually reflects WHO they are (their fashion sense, their skill in makeup, a daring haircut etc.)
I’ve experienced this as well. It’s amazing how truly superficial most people are. I’ve always felt that a body is just a vessel and it’s not YOU. Any one of us could’ve randomly inhabited the body of anyone else at birth instead of getting the body we did. Physical self seems so unimportant in the grand scheme of life/aging/etc but so much importance is placed on having certain physical characteristics.
I also had huge body issues since I was about 10 ( I was fat) and it had the opposite effect on me. I’ve heard every insult under the sun, and for such a long time, so now anyone’s comments about my appearance have no effect on me whatsoever. So one of the rare aspects of celebrity life I think I would deal with quite well is handling negative commets about the way I look.
She is refreshing. Love her.
That’s a great statement that could be applied to anything–I don’t need you to approve (whatever). And love all of her dresses!
I know she doesn’t need me to approve of her, but I do anyway. She’s awesome.
Her character disapeared in Riverdale. Which is a shame because that show needs some body diversity. I looooooove that last dress. I want it and an occasion to wear it!
I liked Barb a lot, but I thought she was so painfully bad on Riverdale.
…But now Riverdale is so painfully bad that I don’t even watch anymore. I didn’t realize she had disappeared.
She wasn’t great on Riverdale, I agree. She needs more range but she’ll grow and develop as an actress in time. She’s still at the early stage. I just hope she gets the opportunities she deserves because unfortunately we are still very much stuck with “thinner is better” in this industry and I’d hate to see her constantly relegated to sidekick roles because she doesn’t fit that nonsensical ideal.
It is off-topic, but does anyone else think she looks like young Marilyn Monroe, that is, Norma Jeane before she became Marilyn?
I can see it. She has a beautiful face.
I was told by my family for years I was fat. They were ‘teasing’. Well, you tell someone long enough, often enough, what they are….and they become it. I remember the first time I noticed I was the fattest person in the room. I am now very fat. Now the fat is causing knee pain, hip pain, but it seems like nothing compared to the heart pain of never ‘measuring up’ (or down).
Yes – that is definitely the worst part. I’m in my 40s and there’s still a part of me that feels I failed as a daughter because I was never cute/fit/sporty. That pain has taken me years to work on. It’s so sick.
Controversial opinion: I think this article is fine, but it still rankles me when we call people a fat loser, male or female, or talk about how they let themselves go. There are better ways to dismiss someone.
And I think body shamers, like parents who do it to kids, have some issues to work out themselves.
it’s hard to give love if you don’t have it for yourself.
Smart.
I love this.
Off-topic, but I only just watched Stranger Things and I had no idea how tiny Barb’s role was. I’d heard and read a lot about this show and I had no idea some of the main characters, like Nancy and Jonathan, even existed and Barb was always mentioned like this iconic character and she only had like 3 scenes altogether.
It’s a huge testament to the charisma and charm Shannon has! The character wasn’t all that interesting and barely had any lines, but people wanted to watch more of the actress! She should be given all the roles.
She’s beautiful!
I too have sort of let myself go. Im now 255 lbs and 5’10. I was a chubby kid so i went full fledged into the hyper dieting and excercising in teenage years and beyond. I got tired of obsessing about it and just ate. Ive worked on it sporadically and have come to the point of self acceptance ,while wanting to see eating less and excercising as strengthening my body for me.