Kiera Knightley on size 0
Kiera Knightley slams the pressure placed on young women in the entertainment industry as the size 0 argument rumbles on.The Pirates of the Caribbean star has criticised Hollywood studios for encouraging actresses to lose weight and has called on the studios to take a more responsible role to protect of the health of the stars working for them.Knightley, who recently took legal action against the Daily Mail for claiming she lied about having an eating disorder, follows in the footsteps of fellow British actresses Kate Winslet and Billie Piper in highlighting the dangers of the size 0 craze that is sweeping Hollywood. Both Piper and Winslet highlighted the effect that these super skinny women have on impressionable young girls. Kate Winslet claimed that she didn't allow magazines with pictures of these models in the house for fears they may influence her daughter. And Billie Piper claimed that Victoria Beckham was not a good role model for her younger sister.The arguement about weight errupted in August 2006 when Luisel Ramos, a 22 year old model, died of a heart attack after stepping off the catwalk. It was revealed in the three months leading up to her death she had lived on a strict diet of lettuce leaves and Diet Coke. In February of this year Eliana Ramos, Luisel's sister also a model, died of a heart attack believed to be down to malnutrition. The fashion industry has led the way in banning these super skinny models by introducing a body mass index, a height to weight ratio, of 18 for all the models. At Madrid Fashion Week an model under this ratio was banned from the catwalk. The impact of this is if Kate Moss had been present then she would have been banned from taking part. However the organisers at London Fashion Week failed to follow the example set by Madrid and let any model, despite their body mass index,take to the catwalk.Despite this clamp down in the fashion world in the film industry this craze appears to have gone unnoticed with some of the world's most beautiful women simply disappearing. At the end of the year fears were growing for the health of Nicole Richie and Kate Bosworth who it was repoted at 5'5" weighted only 45 kilos. But in the UK a string of television documentaries aimed to highlight the dangers of size 0. Former singer Louise Rednapp took on a punishing regime of dieting and exercise to achieve that elusive size 0. The programme highlighted along the way the dangers of such extreme dieting could have on her body including affecting her moods, causing fatigue and the dangers of damaging her ability to reproduce. Hot on its heels was channel 4's Superskinny Me: The Race to Size Double Zero which followed two journalists Kate Spicer and Louise Burke, both a healthy size 12, as they exposed the dangers of extreme dieting.Concern is growing here in the UK as hight street chains such as Top Shop and Miss Selfridge introducing clothing lines which are making it easier for young girls to emmulate their idols. But In a society driven by appearence and weight and with no sign of the size 0 trend slowing down state side the arguments about the safety of size 0 will keep on running despite the warnings surrounding this dangerous obsession.
Helen Earnshaw