The sassy host of America's Next Top Model has not always kept to mannequin proportions. A paparazzi photo surfaced in 2007 of Tyra frolicking in the surf, looking bigger than the Victoria's Secret norm. Outraged by the comments and attention, she told the world "to kiss her fat a**" (which she let the records show was 161 pounds). Afterwards, however, she dropped the weight for health reasons, but just last month received criticism for promoting extreme skinniness on Top Model.
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Kirstie Alley has made a fruitful post-
Cheers career of yo-yo-ing (occasionally giving off the impression that her weight is not the only imbalance). Last week the actress
used all 140 characters to tweet, "I've lost over 50 lbs...and I'm having the time of my of my life...30 more to gooooooooooooooooooooooooo
oooooooooooooooooooooooooo." Alley has always been open about her weight issues, becoming a Jenny Craig spokeswoman and starring on two TV shows: the sitcom
Kirstie Alley's Big Life, and an A&E reality show,
The Big Life. Though it's unclear how much her current 50 is subtracted from, she once tipped the scale at 230 pounds.
Britney's back! For the time being. After bearing two children, and years of ups and downs, both emotionally and physically, the pop star was recently snapped on vacation in Hawaii looking almost like her peak version. Britney's low point might have been her "comeback" performance for MTV's VMAs in 2007, after which, according to Us Magazine, "She flipped out. She came running off the stage, yelling 'Oh, my God, I looked like a fat pig! I looked like a fat pig!' She was inconsolable." In the three years since, with 5 pounds here and there, she seems to have made inroads to a calmer lifestyle with boyfriend Jason Trawick, and her weight appears to reflect that.
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Oprah has been on the yo-yo publicity train since before Kirstie Alley ever left Ted Danson at that televised bar. The queen of talk made her first major weight statement in 1988, when she dropped 67 pounds and wheeled out the equivalent to show her studio audience. In 1992, she maxed out at 237 pounds, then lost it all—plus some—then put it back on again, reaching 200 pounds in 2008. At that point, Oprah plastered her eponymous magazine with the coverline "How Did I Let This Happen Again?"
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Heigl, usually at a happy medium, once stated that she would prefer to have the body of Nicole Richie—at the height of Richie's skeletal days. But the former Grey's Anatomy star also told Glamour magazine she could never maintain weight loss because "I like food too much!" Heigl seems to thin out with every movie promotion, and though she's been spotted looking slender while promoting her new flick, Life as We Know It, some blogs have begun speculation that she's putting on the pounds again.
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The star's weight seems to be one of the countless struggles in her life, or perhaps a direct result of all the others. Lohan was a healthy and robust teenager when Herbie: Fully Loaded came out in 2005, but drinking, drugs and the pressure of a Hollywood career took a toll on her weight. The actress popularized skinny zeal by hiring Rachel Zoe and emulating the sickly stick-figure look. After the fad passed, Lohan filled out again, but seems to fluctuate at every new debacle and downfall ( Lohan checked into rehab again on Tuesday).
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The "Bootylicious" singer is known for being just that, but Beyonce doesn't stick to a size for long. She famously lost 20 pounds on the Master Cleanse Diet (that's the water-lemon-cayenne pepper one) for her role in Dreamgirls, but soon went back to a healthier weight. For the past couple of years, with every fluctuation in weight, a pregnancy rumor has bubbled up, most recently in March; the rumor was put to rest when photos of a decidedly un-pregnant and slim-again Beyonce were published almost two months later.
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Ever since Simpson's bombshell turn in those eensy shorts for 2005's The Dukes of Hazard, the singer-actress has faced intense scrutiny over her weight. After her breakup with John Mayer, Simpson put on some weight, lost it again, then appeared in the Mom-jeans seen ‘round the world… The weight was back on. Since then, she has constantly made headlines for weight gains and losses, and the accompanying wardrobe missteps. In March, Simpson told Oprah, "I'm comfortable with me. I love my curves. I'm not ever going to be a size 0 and weigh 90 pounds."
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During the race for New Jersey Governor in 2009, Christie's opponent Jon Corzine ran a slo-mo ad focused on Christie's large waist. Since then, it's been open season for wonks and weight watchers. Christie has admitted to his battles with the bulge, and has lost some since the Corzine ad, but criticism keeps streaming in. Just last week, MSNBC's Ed Schultz called him a "cold-hearted fat slob."
The former president is famed for his fluctuating waistband and love of junk food—McDonald's actually played a role in his 1992 campaign, with Hillary telling The New York Times, "The good news is, my husband loves to eat and enjoys it. The bad news is, he loves to eat, even when things are not always right for him." Among the presidencies, scandals, and triumphs, Clinton has gained and lost many times. Most recently, he dropped 24 pounds for his daughter Chelsea's wedding (she only asked for 15) and was photographed looking better than ever.
The actor has gone up a few pant sizes since those bellbottoms of Saturday Night Fever fame, or the slim black jeans of Grease. By the time of 1994's Pulp Fiction, Travolta was an undeniably bigger fellow. But it apparently wasn't just middle age's slowing metabolism: Travolta looked thin (perhaps even chiseled) again in last year's Disney film, Old Dogs. Before that, he topped out to play the exceedingly oversized Edna Turnblad (a woman) in Hairspray.
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When Wilson made his debut in 1996's Bottle Rocket, he was immediately known as a strong-jawed, able-bodied heartthrob, a status he enjoyed well into the aughts. But his fans were surprised, to say the very least, when he appeared in 2009 AT&T advertisements with a new "jowly" face and full figure. "Rather pedestrian," one blogger said of the weight gain, estimating he'd put on 25 pounds. By this August, Wilson, who turned 39 this month, seemed to have lost at least half that sum.
Vaughn's sturdy frame has starred opposite many diminutive ladies (Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Isla Fisher, to name a few). But his belly changes size in every film: Swingers, his 1996 hit, features what would now be an incongruously slim Vaughn; by 2005's Wedding Crashers and in full-throttle middle age, Vaughn had beefed up; The Break Up was a mid-size version; and Vaughn seems to have shed a few again, judging by the teasers for The Dilemma, out next year.
AP Photo
