During Kerry Washington’s book tour for her new memoir, Thicker Than Water, shed light on an aspect of her life rarely seen before.
At the Palace Theatre in Los Angeles, Washington, 49, opened up about past struggles with her body image alongside actress Gabrielle Union, 50.
Referring to “very affluent white women” during her time in private school in New York City, Washington told Union, “These are stereotypes, but the ways that their moms and the women in that world looked was so different from the women that I grew up with.”
“And all the messages I was getting from Hollywood and from this environment was that thinner is better. And that success looked like thinness,” Washington continued, per People.
During the interview, Washington recognized the diverse subcultures that were celebrated in NYC while growing up. Being from the same neighborhood as singer Jennifer Lopez, the actress saw different body types being celebrated. One body type included the thin, waifish, “rich” look as seen at Washington’s private school. The other included curvier figures, often seen and applauded in the Bronx.
“Jennifer’s butt was being celebrated everywhere,” the Scandal actress said. “But that wasn’t what I was interpreting as beautiful. Because I was spending nine hours a day at Spence, where Gwenyth Paltrow went. I’m not body-shaming Gwyneth Paltrow, but… there was one area that I was sort of being told was the direction to pursue.”
Paltrow is no stranger to critique when it comes to her controversial approach to health. In 2023, the Goop founder’s extreme “wellness” routine came under extreme fire.
On an episode of The Art of Being Well with Dr. Will Cole, Paltrow explained her extreme daily routine. The routine consists of coffee that won’t “spike” her blood sugar for breakfast, her noon meal of bone broth—or “soup”—as Paltrow coined it, and a dinner of “lots of vegetables” to fit her “paleo” diet.
Viewers took to the comment section of the interview to voice their opinions of Paltrow’s meticulous wellness routine.
“So coffee and bone broth are meals now,” one person commented.
“Broth ain’t lunch girlypop,” another viewer said.
“This is so concerning. She doesn’t look well at all. I really hope someone on her team/family can host an intervention and help her,” a third person commented.
“I take two really big gulps of air like twice every hour and am like so satisfied all day,” a fourth viewer joked.
Despite Paltrow’s outrageous views on wellness, Entertainment Weekly reports that the duo remains friends after attending high school together.