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Gabourey Sidibe: America Get Off Her Back About Her Appearance!
Blanche Africa Reilly Dark is back with commentary about Gabourey Sidibe, the award winning, Oscar nominated actress who made her debut in the Lee Daniels directed independent film “Precious, Based on the Novel ‘Push” by Sapphire”.
Gabourey Sidibe is young, vivacious and beautiful. Let’s commend her fine award winning, Golden Globe and Oscar nominated performance. Her portrayal of an abused, emotionally challenged urban female youth brought attention to the issues of child abuse, mental illness and poor nutrition, features of home life for too many American families.
While we applaud her success can we just give the lady a break on the assessment of her appearance? There is no doubt Ms Sidibe is aware she is fat. There I said it. Just like she knows she’s intelligent, witty, clever, acclaimed for her work on film, she knows she is a dark skinned African American female who is overweight. She disclosed in an interview with Oprah she was on her first diet to lose weight at age six years old.
“It’s something I’ve had to work at. My first diet started when I was six years old. I’ve never been a small girl. One day I had to sit down with myself and decide that I loved myself no matter what my body looked like and what other people thought about my body.”~ Gabourey (Gabby) Sidibe in an interview with Oprah Winfrey November 2009
How could she not know these things about herself? These are facts she has lived with for all of her 24 years. Nearly a quarter of a century of knowing who she is and what she looks like. Gabourey says when she was 21 or 22 she finally became comfortable in her own skin.
“I got tired of feeling bad all the time. I got tired of hating myself.”~ Gabourey (Gabby) Sidibe in an interview with Oprah Winfrey November 2009
It’s because she is self aware she is confident to successfully perform the work she does.
Gabourey Sidibe, like many American black people, knows she is black; and like many overweight Americans, black, white or any other race, she knows she is fat.
What Ms Sidibe has done in addition to providing a stellar film performance, and showing the world her lovely personality and her spunky youth as she promotes the movie and other projects, she has brought to our attention two important issues. One issue is child abuse and the other our poor eating habits.
Whether the abuse is mental, sexual or physical, child abuse can be prevented. Remember hurt people hurt people. There are means to helping those who have been hurt by helping them to understand themselves, helping them to heal so they stop abusing themselves and those they love.
Yes, Gabourey Sidibe is fat. There are many actors who are fat who are taking some kind of drug to suppress their appetites to keep their poundage low with no guarantee this will insure they are hired for the next big teevee or blockbuster movie role.
I am equally concerned for those anorexic, bulimic looking actresses and models who every week, every month grace the covers of popular magazines. I believe they are as unhealthy as the ones we call obese.
I say let’s have a national conversation about changing the way our foods are preserved and processed. I say let us have a national conversation that leads us to demand the food supply is clean and free of fat inducing sugars and chemicals. We can do this if we are really as concerned about the matter of childhood obesity, and adult obesity along with other preventable health issues.
As for Gabourey Sidibe, and the equally unhealthy skinny dolls in the entertainment industry they have been sufficiently told about their appearance, as if they did not already know. Let them choose of their own accord to lose the weight, gain weight or do nothing about their weight. They are all grown ups. Let these people be who they wish to be.
They’re adults and this is after all America–land of the free, home of the brave, anorexic or fat if we choose to be.
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