Deja Vu Much? Kelly Clarkson is Beautiful

Yesterday, among far too many tweets and articles about Kim Kardashian's platinum hair, were articles about how awesome Kelly Clarkson's response to fat shaming was. I immediately was reminded of a post that I did a little more than three years ago, about how the internet took to belittle Kelly Clarkson about her weight and how pissed it made me. This time around, a British TV personality took to the internet to sound off about what she thought about Kelly's appearance. I toyed with writing this post yesterday but eh, I was tired and had a basket of socks to pair up... that was until I did my nightly review of my Instagram, seeing a photo of Kelly on the BravoTv feed.Well, if I thought I was pissed three years ago, I am hella angry today. I'm like legit pissed off.  Yay, she's on Watch What Happens Live! Oh hell no, people were making nasty comments about her weight in Andy's territory. People are assholes. As a fellow new Mom, I am here to come to Kelly's defense, not that she needs me to. She's got this sh!t under control.

A RANT: "Average" Women,Widening the Definition of Beauty and Deodorant

I don't know if you remember seeing the post I wrote about people dogging on Kelly Clarkson's SNL appearance but suffice to say, I take positive body image and related issues to heart.* Lately, I have been kind of offended by advertisements on TV and in magazines because, well, I don't feel like the ads that are meant to entice women to work on their appearance, are representing the diversity in woman or encouraging healthy body image. Here let me give you an example:

I was watching WE television the other day, Wedding Sunday to be exact, and a bronzing lotion commercial came on. Who doesn't want a "natural" glow for Summer by simply purchasing a tube of tinted lotion? I know I sure do. Trouble is, I was immediately off put by this particular commercial because the woman in the advert wasn't just a model, she was like super thin... oh but she was tan so that makes it OK! I love to look at beautiful models just like the next person, but this model just struck me as being bony, which I never usually consider a good thing.  The next commercial represented real women. Enter head shots of diverse women in lots of pain, oh me oh my, my period cramps are so bad, what ever am I supposed to do? The next commercial was two women sharing a cookie over a hedge, mmmm food, average women eat cookies... by the time Bridezillas came back on, I still hadn't seen an ad for beauty products or the like, that didn't have a really thin model... and this was on a Women's network. I couldn't help but feel a little sad, you know? Was it my perception? Do I feel this was because I am premenstrual and blah about the pimple on my chin? Gah, where is my self esteem? Take a look at the ad that sent me into a mini tail spin:

Why so Mean to Kelly Clarkson, People?

In watching Saturday Night Live this past weekend, I was a little taken aback by host Charles Barkley and Musical Guest, Kelly Clarkson... if only because I sort of feel that neither are 100% relevant right now. Once the show started though, I thoroughly enjoyed Charles Barkley as the host and I was reminded of how friggin' talented that Kelly Clarkson really is. I have seen many a SNL where the musical guest sounded, flat out horrible live... but Kelly, now there is a true talent.

So here I am enjoying myself and imagine how absolutely peeved that I was when I saw my Twitter feed blowing up with people dogging on Kelly Clarkson for being fat.... and actually tweeting to her about it. Ummm, hello people, Kelly Clarkson can actually see those tweets. Would you tell your friend or even a casual acquaintance that they looked fat? I don't think so.

Bad manners aside, I think that this type of public reaction to someone's personal appearance is something of societal tragedy. Are we that obsessed with weight, youth and beauty, that physical looks automatically trump absolutely amazing talent? Here, I'll show you some examples of the complete superficiality:

@fsmikeyL 100%. Kelly clarkson loves to eat ham
@IlickBrains Clearly if Kelly Clarkson "Just Walked Away" she wouldn't be at her size.
@willnoonan Since You've Been Gone, Kelly Clarkson has been eating.
@brandnirwin Kelly Clarkson weighs more than Charles Barkley

Those weren't the worst but you get the idea...


Now there were no great pictures that I could snag of her performance but check out this video of her Mr. Know It All performance that night.... OK, welcome back. Please also see pictures of Kelly below from VH1 Divas, the American Music Awards and recent NFL event. I THINK KELLY LOOKS GREAT. Yes, she has gotten some curves that perhaps weren't there the last time we all took a look at her but seriously people, she is an average American woman that you are putting down here. I bet you that Kelly Clarkson and I might be pretty close in size (well I have more chest while she has more butt) and it kind of hurt my feelings that the Twitterverse was giving her a hard time.

Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images North America, Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images North America, Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images AsiaPac

I think that girls today need to have great role models. I love to look and feel beautiful. I love to daydream about wearing designer clothes and dressing up to look glam but if society is telling me that I have to be model thin to actually be beautiful? Geesh, what kind of message is that. Should I not even bother? I am SURE that Kelly Clarkson's feelings were hurt by the mean tweets, how could they not be? She is an absolute power house of natural talent that I could only dream of having. And to boot? She is a curvalicious and beautiful woman. Seriously people, why so mean to Kelly Clarkson?

Where do you weigh in on this? (no pun intended)