Being a woman in the public eye is an incredibly unenviable position. If you’re not being judged for your actions, it’s likely you’re being criticised for your appearance. This is something Christina Aguilera knows only too well.
When she first rose to fame as an 18-year-old pop star in 1999, she was praised for her ‘perfect’ body. She was then criticised for gaining weight in her 20s, later revealing that people in the music industry preferred her as a ‘skinny teenager’.
And now, at the age of 43, the ‘Genie in a Bottle’ singer is being shamed once more for being ‘too skinny’. In a recent viral video of Christina attending an Barry’s Bootcamp event to celebrate the 25th anniversary of her debut album, she has been accused of being ‘the skinniest she’s ever been’ and looking ‘sick’.
One person commented, ‘She does have the bobblehead Ozempic thing going on but still looks amazing' and another praised her for being 'back to her original size', whatever that means. While other fans were right to chime in to say ‘leave her alone’ and to remind people that all bodies change with time – how, why or when should not become a default topic for debate.
In the past year, the singer's apparent weight loss has prompted speculation that she has been taking the cult weight-loss drug, Ozempic. The injectable drug, originally created to treat diabetes, is popular among celebrities such as Kelly Osbourne, Amy Schumer, Oprah Winfrey, Kelly Clarkson and Elon Musk and is known to suppress the user's appetite and slow down digestion.
However, Christina has not spoken about using or trying Ozempic. Nor has she ever willingly invited commentary on her body. Regardless, it’s something she has had to deal with throughout her entire adult life. From the minute she turned 18, her body has been dissected by fans, strangers and people in the entertainment industry. As we know, this type of repetitive discourse is helpful to exactly no one.
Speaking in a recent interview about being body shamed throughout her career, she said, ‘When you’re a teenager, you have a very different body than when you’re in your 20s. I started to fill out, and then that was unacceptable because it was like, “Oh, she’s getting thicker.”
‘Then I had industry people say, “They liked your body and how you were skinny as a teenager”.’
It's worth remembering that Christina exists outside of her role as an aspirational music icon. She is also a mother, a fiancé and a normal person trying to live her life without internalising strangers' projections of who she is and what she should look like.
If, and the word is if, she does have any insecurities about her body image, it would be entirely unsurprising. We live in a society where, famous or not, women are chastised for their changing bodies and then torn apart if they are thought to be responding to the criticism. Whether that be dieting, exercise, weight loss drugs or indeed nothing at all, it seems there is no right way to exist.
Luckily, Christina has said that time has afforded her the wisdom to ignore people's endless comments about her appearance. 'I have a maturity now where I just don’t give a f--- about your opinion,' she said. 'I’m not going to take it on. It must be your responsibility to take up your space. Other people’s opinions of me are not my business.'
Nikki Peach is news and entertainment writer at Grazia UK, working across pop culture, TV and current affairs. She has also written for the i, i-D and the New Statesman Media Group and covers all things TV for Grazia (treating high and lowbrow shows with equal respect).