Duck Dynasty star empowers girls
The fight against negative body image just got a new champ in Duck Dynasty star Sadie Robertson, and a Chicago-area physician is cheering the teen's message.
The 17-year-old reality TV celebrity recorded a YouTube video recently in which she talked about her personal insecurities. Admitting she has struggled with self-confidence, she urged fans to "live original" and stop allowing comparisons with others to trigger self-criticism.
On April 6 she spoke with Robin Roberts on Good Morning America, drawing even more viewers to her video, which has gone viral, racking up more than 2 million views.
Dr. Anna Craioveanu applauds the attention, saying the teen's message is a powerful one.
"A healthy body image comes from self-confidence and self-worth, which are developed by a sense of accomplishment in artistic, athletic, scholastic or other abilities," says Craioveanu, an Advocate Medical Group physician who practices family medicine at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, Ill.
Craioveanu says this is an opportunity for parents to learn a lesson as well.
"It is important that parents support their children so they may develop these abilities," she says, noting that the line is crossed when pursuing these goals becomes detrimental to one's personal health or relationships.
The support for Robertson and her positive message coincides with an onslaught of other very public attention focused on body image. The same day the Duck Dynasty teen was on Good Morning America, another celebrity found herself defending her appearance on the Today show.
Speaking with Today's Savannah Guthrie, E! News host Giuliana Rancic discussed her weight loss, which has been the source of much eating disorder speculation. She told Guthrie she does not have an eating disorder. Rather, she said, she has lost weight due to cancer medication she's been taking since her double mastectomy three years ago.
The TV appearances by Rancic and Robertson come just as lawmakers in France are considering cracking down on ulta-thin models and those who hire them.
According to The New York Times, the lower house of parliament in France approved a measure on April 3 that would ban excessively skinny models and impose fines and possibly even jail time for modeling agencies and fashion houses that hire them.
If the law is approved by the Senate and gets the OK from a parliamentary review board, models would be banned from working if their body mass index (BMI) is too low and considered unhealthy. Additionally, the law has another provision that would make it illegal to encourage anorexia on the Internet.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, eating disorders such as anorexia frequently appear during teen years or young adulthood. These disorders (anorexia, bulimia and binge eating) affect both genders, although rates among women and girls are 2 ½ times greater than among men and boys. Treatment plans can include:
• Individual, group or family psychotherapy
• Medical care and monitoring
• Nutritional counseling
• Medications (antidepressants, for example)