2000's skinny back? 

Article by Clara Cullen 8b (07.05.2026)

The 2000’s were known for a plethora of things: the y2k fashion era, iconic filmography like the Harry Potter or Twilight franchise, and starving, dangerously skinny celebrities.

Like every decade, the 2000’s decade had its ups and downs, especially in the evolution of beauty standards.

Suddenly, celebrities left and right were becoming paper thin and preaching beauty in the form of a barely masqued eating disorder.

The ‘look’ at the time for girls was hollow cheeks, long and slender legs and a toned stomach, and for boys six pack abs with minimal body fat. Anyone who did not starve to fit the standard was considered ‘fat’ and ‘undesirable’. On the flip side, anyone sick enough to fit said standard was praised for their conventional beauty and discipline.

“Whats your secret?” Became a common question among interviews when referencing the body of the interviewee.

Consequently, as these celebrities were the role models for every teenage girl and their mother at the time, doctors began to notice a surge of diagnosis in eating disorders. Unsurprisingly, the glamorization and romanization of these sometimes fatal illnesses caused a surge of online spaces in support of this ‘lifestyle’. 

Although they were slightly better, the early 2010’s were still a breeding ground for sick teenagers to recognise and instigate each other in the name of ‘support' and ‘discipline’.

It naturally didn't help that celebrities were quoting things to support these young girls in their dysmorphia. Some notable phrases being “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels”, quoted by Kate Moss in a 2009 WWD (Women’s Wear Daily) interview, calling it a ‘little jingle’ she and her friends used.

Another notable phrase circulating the internet at the time was "When you think you feel hungry, you're actually thirsty so just drink water and you'll be fine.”

You can probably imagine the sheer number of online forums and communities regurgitating these quotes to vulnerable, easily influenced teenage girls.

Additionally, films began adapting to and following these trends. `To the Bone´ (2017) is a film from the mid/late 2010’s starring Lily Collins and an example of this. The main plot point of the film is that Ellen, the main character, struggles with anorexia nervosa and is sent to a private psychiatric care facility in an attempt to rehabilitate her.

The film had very mixed reviews overall. Some people identified with Ellen, relating to her story and claiming they thought that the film was a good representation of what it is like to struggle with anorexia.

On the other hand, the film was accused of romanticising the disorder. Many people agreed upon the fact that it was an unrealistic depiction of what someone goes through during recovery. 

The general consensus was that this film failed to show the real, ugly sides of recovering from an eating disorder. The fact that the film had an open ending on whether or not Ellen recovered was also highly criticised.

Even after all this discourse, ED forums did what they do best and used the main character as an ‘inspiration’ of sorts. 

One of the main aspects of these communities is something called ‘thinspo’. This refers to a photo of someone they would typically consider thin (though they often have a more malnourished look than anything else), and use it as inspiration, a physical manifestation of their own personal physical goals.

In theory this practice doesn't sound too bad. People such as bodybuilders use inspiration photos all the time. What makes this trend so dangerous is that the goals people are typically trying to achieve are far from healthy and if they were to attain that physique and or bodyweight, they would face serious physical consequences like heart conditions and/or extreme deficiencies, which the models in the photo most likely struggle with as well.

Another stereotype that these types of films create is that only people who are underweight can have anorexia. The white, rich and alarmingly thin character trope that about 90% of  characters portrayed with an eating disorder follow. Ellen is just one of these examples, more being Patty from insatiable (2018), Hannah from starving in suburbia (2014), Nancy from for the love of Nancy (1994), Olivia from Feed (2017), Beth from sharing the secret (2000), Janet from Girl, Interrupted (1999) and many more.

Though not to say the celebrities were the only ones at fault for this outbreak of dangerous diet culture. Big Companies and brands milked  these quotes and mindsets as much as they could, practically jumping for joy at the opportunity to take advantage of teenager’s insecurity and turn it into a marketing strategy.

Though this issue is not a new one, each decade faced its own unrealistic beauty standards pushed onto women, this version of it was one of the most dangerous types, as normal skinny wasn't good enough anymore, if you didn't look like you lived off of black coffee and cigarettes, then you were a spectacle, a horror story told to the teenage girls around the world. “If you don’t do this amount of exercise, eat this exact amount of calories a day and revolve your whole day around food, then you'll turn into her.” was the general gist of weight loss advertisements at the time.

The mid to late 2010’s brought on a new, brighter outlook to the human body. Popular songs like all about that bass (2014) by Meghan Trainor pushed for acceptance and compassion to every body type, not just the ones slowly eating away at their own muscles.

This new wave of body positivity aimed to show teenagers around the world that they were more than their BMI, spreading kindness and compassion to their peers regardless of any number.

This grace period of acceptance lasted till around 2022, when things took a turn for the thinner yet again, this time possibly even more damaging than before.

Instead of the Heroin-chick and Black coffee aesthetic the 2000’s and early 2010’s brought on, the early 2020’s popularised the use of weight loss medication, like ozempic.

In theory, ozempic is a medication designed and prescribed to people with type 2 diabetes which works to even out their blood-sugar levels. And unfortunately it does so happen to be a form of weight loss drug that has been used and abused by every and any influencer willing to pay copious amounts of money for it.

Scientists are still looking into the drug and its properties as it is a fairly new development. The bottom line is that, not only were there actual shortages of it in 2023 because of the craze, but the side effects are concerning at the very least. 

Some side effects include; debilitating gastrointestinal issues like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and constipation. And even an increasing number of cases involving pancreatitis, bowel obstruction, and gastroparesis. These issues have been linked directly with the abuse of ozempic.

Another blast from the past is the resurge of severely underweight celebrities. There has been much discourse over the commenting of the actors' bodies, but it's understandably difficult not to when they look like they have the calorie intake of an infant.

An example of such discourse was Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo during the press tour and premiere of ‘Wicked Act 2’. 

Ariana has been linked to ‘pro-ana’ communities (a term used to describe groups of people or online chat rooms that support, encourage and/or instigate disordered behaviour) for years now, but since Cynthia Erivo is newer to the spotlight a new surge of online arguments sparked an even bigger debate on what the boundaries and borders of body-shaming versus friendly concern are. 

Their co-star Michelle Yao was also spotted on the red carpet seemingly having lost an alarmingly large amount of weight in an equally alarmingly little amount of time.

While these are just examples, Celebrities from each corner of the internet seem to have been infected with the fat-feasting plague.

Even Meghan Trainor, the singer of ‘All about that bass’ herself, has been subject of ozempic rumours after red carpet appearances showing she had also drastically lost weight. To many people this symbolised the death of the grace period of positivity.

Many celebrities have been honest about their usage of the drug and similar weight loss procedures, others have given vague answers or ignored the question completely. This could be extremely harmful, even more so than 2000’s, because now people aren't being open and honest about their starvation, but instead using terms like ‘fasting’ (in a non-religious context) or OMAD (One meal a day). 

These are essentially all indirect ways of saying “I'm starving”, and because these celebrities aren't being transparent about their cosmetic procedures and extreme diets, they set an unattainable standard for the new generation of teenage girls.

These teenagers spend years running a race with no finish line. Following these trends is obviously quite a slippery slope into eating disorders like Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa. 

There are countless posts online of young girls lamenting about their bodies, with the platforms doing little to nothing to censor it. 

Many adolescents talk about failing, not succeeding to reach their goal weight or dream body, but what they don't realise is that they are a part of the same vicious cycle the celebrities they look up to are in.

Beauty standards and trends are futile and fleeting. By the time your collarbones are visible through your shirt and your thighs have a gap in between them, the internet and the industry will have moved on to the next big thing. The influencers will keep up, that's their job after all, but the teenagers are left scrambling after them, with long lasting mental damage as a parting gift.

It’s essential, now more than ever, to remind these kids that a ‘failed’ anorexic is recovering, and a ‘successful’ one is dead.

There is truly only one winner in this game, and that is the companies pushing and profiting from the chaos of this self-esteem crisis. While the celebrities might have better access through wealth and connections, they are still people, pawns even, in the game that is corporate marketing

While in the last few years we have seen a spike of what we thought we had left behind, hope isn't all lost yet. 

More and more organisations, national warnings and campaigns have been working to combat the returning trend by spreading awareness and lifting the curtain on the toxicity that is the beauty industry and its standards.

Even people inside the business like Italian Vogue editor Franca Sozzani have called for laws against promoting equating disorders. Furthermore they managed to get signs of the campaign up in Italy’s fashion capital, Milan.

In conclusion, if there is one thing to take away from the situation, it is that today’s beauty standards are nearly impossible to escape from. What is important to keep in mind though, is that although anorexia has been glamourized to the moon and back, it is still a disorder with the second highest death rate of any mental illness. Only seconded by opioid addiction.

The only thing you can do now is to be respectful of everyone, regardless of some number, and try to support and be there for anyone you know who might be struggling with disordered eating.

Sources: 

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Picture: 

               “In Defence of ‘To the Bone.’” BBC, 14 July 2014, ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/1920xn/p058pdbl.jpg.