Victoria’s Secret runway show brought out the stars
Stars stole the show at the Victoria’s Secret runway show in New York.
Queen Latifah wants the world to know obesity is a disease, one often tainted with stigma.
The Grammy Award-winning musician and actress opened up about the public awareness campaign, Truth About Weight, which highlights the risks of obesity, including cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack or stroke.
“Obesity is a disease and should be treated as such − not treated as some sort of character flaw or people not trying hard enough,” the rap pioneer told USA TODAY.
Latifah, 55, said her involvement in the Novo Nordisk-funded campaign is about “changing the stigma, changing the bias and opening a door to people who are dealing with obesity.”
People with obesity at risk of heart disease, the nation’s top killer
Two in 5 adults in the United States have obesity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rate is even greater for Black women, research shows.
People who have obesity are at greater risk of heart disease, which is the nation’s top killer, resulting in more than 700,000 deaths per year, the CDC said. Heart disease tops cancer, motor vehicle crashes and respiratory diseases as a cause of death.
“The Equalizer” star said it’s important for people to acknowledge and fight stigma associated with obesity. She said people with obesity and their loved ones also should be aware that medicine and science can help.
Latifah’s mother, Rita Owens, died in 2018 after a long battle with a heart condition. And Latifah said said her cousin, died from obesity and its effects.
“Having lost a cousin to obesity and its effects − a cousin who was one of my funniest cousins, my coolest cousin, who had eight kids to raise − was sad to see. That was really rough,” Latifah said. “Other families should not have to go through that.”
Latifah urged people with obesity − and their loved ones − to educate themselves about the disease.
“The more information you have as a patient, the more you can speak with your doctor honestly and openly,” the “Girls Trip” star said. “Send them to work a little bit. They go to school for this. This is what they train to do. They are a doctor.”
Study: Even doctors must acknowledge weight bias
Latifah said everyone, including the medical community, can do their part to combat weight bias.
“Is your doctor’s office set up to take care of all patients?” Latifah said. “Do you have a chair for someone that is bigger bodied? Are you prepared for that?”
A study published May 13 in BMJ Open Diabetes Research and Care said weight bias can contribute to stress, weight gain and psychological effects such as depression, anxiety and poor body image. The study highlighted new guidance from the Obesity Association, a division of American Diabetes Association, to recognize and address weight bias and stigma.
Doctors can fight weight bias through steps such as equipping medical offices with waiting room chairs, exam tables and medical equipment for people of all sizes, the study said.
“Every person, no matter of their size, deserves kindness, dignity and high quality (health care),” said Dr. Nuha El Sayed, who is leading the association’s development of the standards.
Even some medical experts say the definition of obesity − a person who has a body mass index of 30 or more − needs to change. The Lancet commission in January recommended new measures of obesity to add nuance to adequately explain a person’s risks and what they can do to maintain health.
Latifah credits upbringing for strength to combat weight bias
Latifah opened up about her own body image issues, which she first noticed as a child growing up in Newark and East Orange, New Jersey.
“When your mother looks like Diahann Carroll and your father looks like Billy Dee Williams, you’re wondering, ‘What’s wrong with me?'” Latifah said. “I hadn’t grown into being Queen Latifah − nowhere near it.”
As a young girl, she was said she was cut from her kickball team. But her mother consoled her, nurtured her and built her up − infusing the young girl with confidence to excel in other sports, singing and acting.
She said that confidence helped her break into what was then a male-dominated rap genre in the late 1980s and early 1990s. She also landed her role on the Fox sitcom “Living Single,” which ran from 1993 to 1998.
“There weren’t a whole lot of sitcoms with people who look like me starring in them,” Latifah said. “But I knew I could do it, and it was a lot of convincing everyone else, the powers that be, that I could do it.”
As her acting career blossomed in the 1990s and 2000s, she also gained recognition in 2006 as the first hip hop artist to earn a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
She hopes that inspires other young girls to achieve their dreams.
“There’s nothing more beautiful to me than a confident woman who walks in a room and owns that room based on her confidence, not what her body looks like,” Latifah said.
