We all know that the camera adds 10 pounds. So, it’s a pretty standard industry fact that celebrities must be skinner in real life than in pictures or movies to compensate for this. But, with female celebrities today, it seems like the fine line between skinny and anorexic has been crossed. The disease is so rampant among the celebrity community, I begin to wonder if this may be a new fashion trend? Is only skin in?

The dictionary definition of anorexia is an eating disorder, marked by an extreme fear of becoming overweight, that leads to excessive dieting to the point of serious ill-health and sometimes death. Basically it’s when you diet too much and look like a twig because the little devil sitting on your shoulder keeps saying you’re fat. It’s a serious issue and yet it’s very prevalent among the countries leading role models. These are the very people that women, children, society, look to as ideals of beauty and instead of showing a healthy, in shape body, stars like Kate Bosworth and Keira Knightly, Lindsey Lohan, and Nicole Richie reveal a sickly, emaciated corpse that is not only unhealthily dangerous, it’s just plain ugly.

Back in the 1950s, 1960s, the average women was a size 6. The average celebrity was a size four. (Marilyn Monroe was a size six) Today, the average women is a size 12. The average celebrity is a size 0 or 2.The average clothing size in stores is a four and most mainstream clothing boutiques don’t sell shorts longer than your upper thigh. Shirts are tight fitting, pants are slim cut, and stores always carry plenty of extra smalls. Are all of these things attempts to turn the average women into an anorexic celebrity? Are stores promoting a deadly disease? As America gets bigger celebrities get smaller. Is this some sort of compensation? Is the ideal of beauty always the opposite of reality? When America becomes obese do celebrities have to be anorexic?
We know anorexia kills yet each day more and more celebrities come out into the spotlight sporting the disease like a badge of beauty. Even the ones you think are “perfectly thin” aren’t. Is this just another fashion trend like leg warmers or tie dye shirts doomed to inevitably change with the seasons? If so what’s next? Skeletons? Pro Bulimia t-shirts? Or maybe just thin, but with more than skin, will be finally in?