In A World That Will Focus On Giuliana Rancic
If she needed help, how are we doing it?
On Monday, April 6th, Savannah Guthrie of NBC’s Today Show sat down with news anchor and critical fashion police star, Giuliana Rancic. In this interview, one of the biggest topics that was touched on was Rancic’s weight and how much media coverage it has been getting recently. She’s been accused of having an eating disorder multiple times, and Rancic took the moment to state that this is far from the truth. She openly stated her love for food, only to be returned with demanding “fan” posts for her to eat more.
Rancic actually blames the recent weight loss on her cancer medication, which she was prescribed after being diagnosed with breast cancer back in 2011. E! quoted Rancic to admitting “I was eating more than I’ve ever eaten but I was losing weight, and I was scared! I didn’t think, ‘Oh, this is great.’ I thought, ‘What the heck’s happening to my body?’” Obviously, if we are to take Rancic’s word as the truth (which we should), it’s safe to say that she doesn’t have a problem. But, let say she did, why the hell is it our problem?
The Biggest Issue
This entire story/topic is not about how skinny Rancic is (though I’m not sure why we care), but how completely insensitive the public’s reaction to her weight is. Obviously, any remotely famous person that has weight fluctuations will be targeted for the next headliner, but accusing someone of having an eating disorder AND THEN bashing them for it is in no way helpful. It’s actually quite the opposite.
Imagine Rancic did in fact have an eating disorder, or anyone you knew personally had one, do you really think that telling them to eat will simply fix the problem? It most certainly will not. Same goes for someone who is overweight. Simply telling someone to cut calories or go outside and burn them will not immediately fix the problem. I mean, come on people. It’s a psychological problem.
None Of Our Business
Quite frankly, average Joe’s two cents on weight loss or weight gain isn’t going to switch someone with a mental disorder’s mindset from off to accurate. Telling someone that is completely sendentary, terrified of the gym, and overweight to just “get a gym membership” isn’t going to just instantly fix the problem. It isn’t that simple.
Even those that are without a mental disorder and just naturally thin or predisposed to having higher levels of body fat cannot always help it. Sometimes it’s genetics, other times it’s a medical condition. Those who have thyroid problems could have massive problems gaining or losing weight, no matter what they eat. The worst part about that is that if they aren’t wearing a shirt that states why they look the way they look, people are quick to judge. It may be the minority of the population, but that doesn’t mean it’s nonexistent in those around us making the effort to avoid judging someone solely based on their exterior all the more important.
Why Was This A Story On The Today Show?
Rancic is merely another thin Hollywood woman that does exactly what our local news anchors in our hometowns do. Her case does raise discussion on matters bigger than her including the tendency for us as people to quickly respond to someone’s appearance, without even considering the remote possibility of a mental or physical issue. It’s something we’ve gotta stop. We’ve all been that person to call someone out for acting differently to find later that they have a disability, and we are then left feeling incredibly guilty. Maybe we should consider carrying this sensitivity into our judgmental eyes as we scan the population around us.
