Written by Rae Slezak Registered Psychotherapist

If you’re (unfortunately) still on any form of social media like me, I’m sure you’ve seen the commentary on Ariana Grande’s body:

“Somebody call an ambulance!”
“Eat something.”
“This is so sad to watch.”
“This isn’t normal. As a healthcare professional, I’m genuinely concerned.”

These are all real comments from Instagram. Nearly every photo or video posted of her has a comment section full of remarks like the ones above. I’m sure these comments often come from well-intentioned people. They’re worried about her health, want her to be okay, and express concern about the influence she might be having on her many young fans.

But what’s being framed as concern is often just body policing?

On the one hand, it’s refreshing to see pushback against toxic beauty standards and the “heroin chic” aesthetic that seems to have been re-popularized. On the other hand, as an eating disorder therapist, this rhetoric has become exhausting to see for a few reasons.

First, you cannot determine someone’s health status just by looking at them, period. This is true for people of all sizes (Schulze & Stefan, 2024). More specifically, you also can’t diagnose an eating disorder just by looking at someone. Eating disorders don’t have a look; people across the weight spectrum have eating disorders (Harrop et al., 2021).

Yes, Ariana is thin. This does not necessarily mean she has an eating disorder. Yes, she used to have more body fat than she does now. That does not mean she has an eating disorder. Thin people exist, and being thin does not automatically mean someone is sick.

The only people who know Ariana’s health status are Ariana herself, her doctor, and perhaps some close friends and family members. That’s it. No exceptions.

Yet millions of strangers feel entitled to speculate publicly about her body. In doing so, they de-centre her art and re-centre her body as a topic of conversation.

Let’s assume for a moment that she does have a restrictive eating disorder. Is it reasonable to demand that she seek treatment and gain weight before continuing with her work and creative projects? Personally, I don’t think so.

Unless someone is a minor, it’s not normal to force people into recovery before they are ready. In the meantime, people with eating disorders are allowed to exist in public. Eating disorders are sometimes lifelong battles. Why should someone with a restrictive eating disorder not be allowed to exist in public spaces free from comments about their body? Why should someone with a restrictive eating disorder have to pause all of their creative and career pursuits until they are recovered?

These ideas stem from very Western, colonial treatment ideals, where the expectation is that someone with an eating disorder enters an eight-week standardized inpatient program and exits fully recovered and weight-restored. Wouldn’t it be nice if it were that simple?

Unfortunately, it’s far more common for people with eating disorders to experience recovery journeys full of peaks and valleys; it can be messy. They may think they’re recovered, only to relapse. They may be weight-restored but still struggle with incessant eating disorder thoughts and urges. They may spend decades in various forms of treatment and continue to struggle.

For all we know, Ariana may be actively in treatment right now.

The bottom line is that no one actually knows Ariana

The bottom line is that presumably no one on the internet making these comments actually knows Ariana, and these comments are not helpful. They do not improve her health. They do not increase the likelihood that she seeks treatment. They do not protect young people. Can you tell someone’s health by looking at them? No!

What they do accomplish is reinforcing the idea that women’s bodies are public property, open for scrutiny, debate, and collective surveillance.

We can absolutely have a discussion—and we should—about the collective shrinking of (primarily) women’s bodies in Hollywood. But we don’t need to do that through unsolicited commentary on individual women’s bodies.

If Ariana is struggling with a restrictive eating disorder, I’m pretty sure one of the biggest celebrities on Earth has access to top-of-the-line treatment. Your concern is not what’s missing. Your commentary is not what’s helping.

Her body is not a public discussion board. Thank u, next!

References

Harrop, E. N., Mensinger, J. L., Moore, M., & Lindhorst, T. (2021). Restrictive eating disorders in higher weight persons: A systematic review of atypical anorexia nervosa prevalence and consecutive admission literature. The International Journal of Eating Disorders, 54(8), 1328–1357. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.23519

Schulze, M. B., & Stefan, N. (2024). Metabolically healthy obesity: From epidemiology and mechanisms to clinical implications. Nature Reviews. Endocrinology, 20(11), 633–646. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41574-024-01008-5