Pop diva Lady Gaga, recently ridiculously criticized by the press for gaining an extra 25-30 pounds, responded by posting photos of her undressed figure in perhaps her boldest fashion statement to date: compassion and acceptance. Along with bra and panties, Gaga wears the burden of what many women of all ages face and boldly exposes it with the caption: “Bulimia and anorexia since I was 15.”
The singer is fighting back against the media’s response to her weight (which, on her tiny 5’1″ frame is more noticeable. Also, she also dances on stage in barely no clothes for a living) by posting pics of her half-naked self and asking us all (if you’re a little monster) to get involved by sharing your own photos on a section of her website she launched today called Body Revolution.
She put out the call: “Hey Guys its Gaga… Now that the body revolution has begun, be brave and post a photo of you that celebrates your triumph over insecurities.”
As an avid yogi, we’re used to seeing Gaga in her underpants. But what makes this more meaningful is her courage to get personal about it and use her celebrity to promote self-acceptance.
From the Body Revolution homepage:
My mother and I created the BORN THIS WAY FOUNDATION for one reason: “to inspire bravery.” This profile is an extension of that dream. Be brave and celebrate with us your “perceived flaws,” as society tells us. May we make our flaws famous, and thus redefine the heinous.
“But today I join the BODY REVOLUTION.”
Gaga is known for making waves, but we’re looking forward to the difference this 26-year-old has the potential to make, which her yoga teacher Tricia Donegan had told us about all along:
Lady Gaga is something very special, because she is a woman of service. She uses her talent to make this world better, and that’s because she practices yoga. We are using her celebrityism so that people will listen. She is blessed that she has talent, but what’s special about her is that she’s going to change the world.
Viva la Body Revolution. Be the change.
[via]
top photo via jezebel
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Earlier…
- Smart Girls: Amy Poehler Interviews 9-Year-Old About Yoga
- Man in the Mirror: Reflections on an Enlightening Prankster
- Bikram’s Tricia Donegan On Elitists, and How Celebriyogi Lady Gaga Will Change the World
- Nevermind, Lady Gaga Wears Her Underwear to Yoga Class
- Study: Yoga Kicks Eating Disorders, Body Obsession in Teens
how could anyone say she is fat??? She looks beautifully perfect to me in these pics!!
Yeah but she was looking kind of like a fattie in the tabloid pics. Good job losing the weight since then. Basically her job is to be outrageous and attractive so I think it’s a valid criticism.
It makes me sick that people are actually validating the criticism of her because she is ‘paid to look beautiful’. When did she ever say that? When was looking beautiful part of being a singer or performer? Are only thin people attractive dancing on stage? This article has failed to stand behind the point that Lady Gaga is trying to make: acceptance of who we are and what we do has human beings, regardless of what our outer appearance is at any given time.
Hey JeffreyD,
Those tabloid pictures of Lady G are less than a week old, your argument is…illogical.
your the one who is illogical by saying good job losing weight since the tabloid pics were taken, how much weight do you think she lost in a week? #idiot
#you’re_not_your
How much weight do you think a person can drop in a week and not be hospitalized? The difference in weight between ‘fatty’ Gaga and real, non-photo shopped Gaga is too drastic to have been lost in just a week. So stop being silly.
These pictures are deceptive, however, as they’re taken from a top-down angle which makes her bottom half look narrower than it really is because of the perspective. So she’s not really being honest, which isn’t surprising given that she’s Lady Gaga.
Lady Gaga is such an inspiration and a true artist. I really liked your article and look forward to more. Thanks
Fascinating that the two negative comments came from men. Says a lot about the commentators, and certainly makes me wonder if they actually practice or just like to exercise.
Why does Lady Gaga deserve the benefit of the doubt given her personal history and the content of her art? Is it because she’s a celebrity doing yoga? Or is it her, “woe is me,” complaints? And why if you perceive my comment as ad hominem do you respond with your own gender Feminism?
I point out that her pictures are taken with forced perspective when people are lionizing her for being honest. They’re at about a 45 degree angle for goodness sake. Unless she’s about 4′ tall that’s not how people would see her in real-life.
The yoga community suffers from too much happy-happy joy-joy delusion. Please tone down the bhakti and tone up the jnana. Being skeptical is not a character flaw, being gullible is.
Right on, Nervous Toes. Yoga’s thoroughly obsessed with glamor and beauty and weight loss, and has largely ruined yoga for the straight up yoga dudes who don’t need Lulu stretch pants or Costa Rican beach retreats to validate their spirituality.
All the yog soapbox queens pounced on Sadie (Satan) Nardini and Tara(dactal) Styles for daring to pander to the mass consumer’s zealous desire for Slim Calm Sexy. Then they pounce on dudes for calling bullshit on the Cow Pose.
Women and weight, dude. It’s gynecological hysteria.
Idiotic comments from Jeff and Mr. Toes. Take off the f*cking media filter, guys. (They are the beer goggles of the masses.) That’s a beautiful body.
And a beautiful person, I might add.
She’s a pop star, how do you know if she’s a beautiful person? Did you talk to her at a party? All you know is the outer image, and how she looks (hot) is central to it.
No, really, she’s just an innocent spiritual waif who’s been shamelessly exploited by the “beauty myth” and has been forced to strut and make millions when all she really wanted all along was to be accepted for who she real;y and truly is – uh, in a yellow bikini. And like Sally Fields, if we embrace this new buxom Gaga, she’ll surely bleat into a microphone at next year’s Grammys” Now I KNOW you love me!”. Ah, and poor Yoga Woman’s world will be whole again. (sigh)
I don’t know much about Lady Gaga, but I like what I do know about her. I’m ready to believe what T. Donegan says, that Gaga’s career is really about service. And if anyone can make a dent in our absurd cult of correct appearance, it’s her. Warms my heart that she’s a yogini!
Never perceived Gaga as a yogi. Specially when I saw photos of her recently wearing fur coats in NYC or wearing her meat suit while presenting slaughtered animals on stage during her recent concerts. Talking is easy people, its the doing what matters.
To my eye, she’s got a cute figure and she’s very fit. This topic seems to have brought out a lot of the misogynists.
Saying “people who take care of their bodies are more attractive” isn’t misogynistic, obviously male pop stars are judged by their looks too. Ryan Gosling isn’t popular because he’s some kind of amazing thespian or his inner beauty. Only he’s honest enough to admit it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EehDTbubet4
that was totallly to Jeffrey, sorry Leslie 🙂
I’m a bitch, please ignore my comment above.
:((( Sincere Sad Face.
I don’t care if she is fat, skinny, etc. I wish she would stop wearing real fur.
She doesn’t look bad in these pics. But this fat pride thing bothers me. I work hard myself not to be a whale or an eyesore, and I don’t see why I can’t expect the same from other people. And okay, it isn’t her job to make herself pretty for us, but neither is it our job to say she’s pretty if she isn’t.
You may work hard on not being an eyesore, but you failed at not being a human sore.
Sad that you think your looks are the most important thing about you.
who gives a fuck how people look? why are people even posting about this??? some seriously shallow and moronic posts here..get a life people… sorry to be negative..
Why do you think white women in their 20s and 30 flock to yoga in the first place?
3% I want to get into South Asian spiritualism, Indians really seem to have it all together.
97% I want to get “tone”, but not big and bulky from lifting weights LOL.
Pretty sure you’ve got that right for Ashtanga and vinyasa classes. But not in old-school style classes both in my day and now … lol
And I am not a young lady and I need actual cardio, which you DON’T get from Ashtanga and vinyasa classes …
I’ve never wanted big guns and quads, which I did get from (newfangled) yoga and step aerobics …
It’s that 3% who are the useful idiots. India is a complete failure as a country and a culture, and it’s Hinduism as a religion that’s at fault. Until they stop granting cows more rights and privileges than low caste humans, they have nothing to say to anybody. Nothing.
And don’t talk to me about the laws forbidding discrimination against Dalits. That just proves my point. As long as those Brahmin ****tards command the respect of the credulous (including the Westerners mentioned above), those laws are worse than useless.
‘Why do you think white women in their 20s and 30 flock to yoga in the first place? ‘
All your comments including this one make you sound insecure and uneducated buddy. Firstly, are you a woman in your 20s or 30s Jeffrey? Doesn’t sound like it so you cannot speak for them and quoting a statistic doesn’t make you an expert (and where did you get that from anyways)?
The men I admire are the ones that do get to know women on a deep level – and understand that a lot of our insecurities stem from a man’s judgement on our physical bodies. A girl you may gawk at when she is 25 looks a lot different when she is 85.. and they all eventually will look old. Keep that in mind when you are casting all your quick mindless judgements.
“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
Another thing: If you have a typical obese (male) American show up on the beach with his folds of flab dangling over the waistband of his swim trunks, is he “brave,” or is he just a disgusting slob?
If he’s alive and in this American culture, he is both.
And if he has money–at least to some people–he’s in great shape in the wallet muscle, and you would not see him because he’s on a private, wild, secluded beach. Maybe only a paparazzo or two gets to snap him, if he’s famous.
He’s probably where a lot of Americans want to be, then.
I really wish weight didn’t have to be part of the conversation at all but I saw her live in Dublin two weeks ago on a Saturday night at Aviva Stadium. Got to see that she wasn’t wearing much on stage that night and I thought she looked great.
Came home to coverage of the weight-gain. Not sure what the fuss was about and some of those photos i’ve seen in the press are probably the most unflattering shots possible.
Snicker, snicker. The paparazzi sure know how to snap ’em. It’s why I’ve bought Star magazine. I admit to at least one guilty pleasure. [Do I call myself a YOGI?]
Yeah, I know, dukkhas and klesha … with a big dollop of Lashon Hora … but I am living in a fast-paced world … with the whole Shakespearean star-underling psychoplay underneath …
I don’t think you can be a yogi or have a yoga body if you wear meat and fur.
Hehe. If you were talking about anyone else, I’d take the comment about “wearing” meat as a typo.
As one who has struggled with the weight roller coaster thanks for using your celebrity to make a much needed health and well being statement about our society.
wandarful & good path of a spritual word.