When we millennials look back to our childhoods and adolescence moments watching TV, most of us see the hilarious and stylish Raven-Symoné from That’s So Raven. We know now that most of our teen idols had pretty much horrible experiences while working on our beloved shows, and it’s so hard to think that someone as bubbly and full of energy as Raven-Symoné had such a horrible life.
For the past years, Raven-Symoné has been very vocal about body positivity and the fat-shaming she experienced since she was a very young girl. Raven made her debut at only 4 years old in The Cosby Show. The fat-shaming began then when she was often told she should watch what she ate because she was getting fat.
She recalled one specific incident that happened during the show when she was only 7. She wanted to have a snack between shoots; “I remember people would be like, ‘You can’t eat that. You’re getting fat!’ I’m like, ‘I’m 7! I’m hungry'”
These types of comments were a constant in her life and still, at just 15 years old, she landed what would become her biggest role in That’s So Raven. As a Disney star, Raven wouldn’t only appear on the hit show, she also went on tour with her powerful and great voice. Still, the studio and many around her would openly say she was “too big” to perform for over an hour and a half.
The constant body-shaming had a toll on her mental health, and even though she proved everybody wrong by giving amazing shows singing, and dancing, the damage was done. For Raven-Symoné the thing she wanted the most was to people stop calling her fat.
Encouraged by her father, she ended up getting several cosmetic surgeries including two breast reductions and a lipo… she wasn’t even 18 years old yet. “He was like, ‘So you don’t feel bad, is there anything that you want?’ I was like, ‘Yeah if I get lipo, will people stop calling me fat?’”
“I had two breast reductions and lipo before I turned 18… There was paperwork involved. My dad suggested strongly that I should get my breasts reduced.” As you can imagine, having such a complex procedure on a teenager shouldn’t only be considered criminal, it’s also quite risky.
Raven suffered a seizure right after her first breast reduction surgery. Still, her wish to feel accepted and stop the hurtful comments was such that she agreed to have another reduction surgery and liposuction afterward.
We’ve seen how the body positivity movement has changed some things in the past years; however, listening to stories Raven’s makes us wonder how many girls wouldn’t relate to it today. How people look is still pretty much a conversation today that shouldn’t exist.
