Lili Reinhart has opened up about her body image struggles and urged women to forget “unrealistic standards.”
The actress gave a powerful speech at Glamour’s 2018 Women of the Year Summit, where she opened up about how being constantly photographed by paparazzi added to her struggle.
“I became hyper-aware of my changing body, I could see the difference in my shape in photos and wondered if anyone else was noticing. I felt this strange, constant struggle of having to live up to the expectation of the appearance that I had already established to the world,” the Riverdale star said.
Lili also blamed social media for making women paranoid and insecure: “We exist in a world today where everything can be faked or fixed.”
“Noses can be changed, and stomachs can be tightened, and cellulite can be lasered away, apparently. Because that’s what we are told to do, which is alter ourselves in order to be beautiful.”
“I think about when I have kids in the future, will my daughter be self-conscious about gaining weight? Will she feel the need to explain her body or justify it to anyone as it changes?” the actress continued, as she expressed her concern for her future children.
“Will she feel that same need that I do now—to apologise to her peers and say ‘My body doesn’t usually look like this,’ or ‘I’m just a little heavier than usual right now?’ How utterly ridiculous is it that we even think about explaining the nature of our bodies to other people?”
The 22-year-old finished her speech by encouraging women to ignore the media and embrace their differences: “Remind yourself that this perfect world you see online or in magazines… in movies and television… are presented to you through many different filters.”
“Do not set impossible goals of meeting those fake standards. It’s unrealistic to think that your body or my body will ever look like anyone else’s. That’s not the way it’s supposed to be. We are all imperfectly beautiful.”
