Archive for July, 2010
50 Cent Loses Weight
Fans have expressed concerns for rapper 50 Cent’s health after his rapid weight loss left him looking gaunt and unwell.
The star’s fast weight loss was for his role in new film “Things Fall Apart”. He is playing a college football player (something of a stretch in any case, since he is 34) who develops cancer.
The rapper has been following a liquid diet for 9 weeks, which has seen him go from 214 pounds to 160 in a very short space of time. He has also been walking for three hours each day on his treadmill.
When the pictures were posted, fans wrote in saying that they were worried at how unwell the star looked in the photos. He is normally pictured looking buff and toned and if famed for having large muscles and a bulky physique.
The star is certainly not the first to change body shape dramatically and quickly for a film role, though usually its stars putting on weight rather than losing it that grabs the headlines.
In 2005, normally tiny star Renee Zellweger piled on the pounds to play size-12-ish Bridget Jones. She said that at first, overeating sounded like heaven but then “after a week your glucose levels are going crazy…it doesn’t feel good, and no one wants to hear that, but its the truth.”
Just as doctors have said that 50 Cent’s rapid weight loss is dangerous, Zellweger also expressed concerns that rapid weight gain could be dangerous. She told the Evening Standard, “I had a panic attack with all the specialists talking about how bad this is for you, long term, putting on that much weight in short periods of time and they’re all saying, ‘You must stop this now or you’re going to die’.”
Part of the problem is also that celebs then go on crash diets when the role is finished, dropping clothing sizes in a dramatically short space of time by following extreme weight loss plans.
Many health experts have said that images of this rapid weight loss in celebrity magazines is giving women unattainable and dangerous ideas about how they should be losing weight.
It has long been known that dramatic changes to body shape – whether that is getting bigger or getting slimmer – is not good for the health and is certainly not an effective way to change body shape in a way that lasts.
While it has become voguish for stars to do it anyway to demonstrate their commitment to their art, the question does remain whether directors should be asking it of them and if they are being sufficiently looked after to protect their health in the long term.
