In an item on Page Six this morning about the cancellation of Britney Spears’ summer tour due to a knee injury, some music industry asshole is quoted as being “concerned” that the pop star may be facing a “dramatic weight gain”:
"She is a big girl anyway," said one record industry executive. "She is prone to gaining weight and likes her junk food. Being on the tour with all of the dancing was keeping a lot of the weight off, but now that she's going to be on crutches for a while, people are worried she will balloon up."
Um, excuse me? She might be quite as thin (that is, borderline-nonexistent) as the Olsen twins or Christina Aguilera, but in what universe, and by what human standard, is Britney “a big girl”? If a female musician has to have a visible rib cage in order to get a promotional push these days, then I'm starting to understand that whole Norah Jones/no magazine covers thing a little better.
But Ms. Spears, somehow, fares better than her ex Justin Timberlake, who in a separate item later on the page is not only called “girlish” and “a fading pop footnote,” but has Cameron Diaz referred to as his “alleged girlfriend.” Ouch.
Posted by Stephen Silver at June 18, 2004 03:33 PM