Queen Latifah is on a campaign to help improve the way women look at their bodies.
The actress and producer talked about how weight standards in the entertainment business affected her personally while working on the set of Living Single, in a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight.
“I can remember specifically doing Living Single and the word came down that we needed to lose weight. Here we are, four different women, four different body types and we needed to lose weight,” the Girls Trip actress told ET co-host Nischelle Turner.
“If anything it angered me and disheartened me, but it really angered me. I said, ‘We are what women look like, we’re not going to lose weight for whoever’s idea of what we’re supposed to look like,'” she recalled.
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The hip-hop star played Khadijah James, editor and publisher of Flavor Magazine throughout the show’s five seasons on Fox from 1993 to 1998. The ensemble comedy also starred Kim Coles, Erika Alexander, Kim Fields, John Henton and Terrence ‘T.C.’ Carson. There are even rumors a reboot is in the works.
Now Queen Latifah continues to prioritize self care over needing to fit a certain dress size as the spokeswoman for the “It’s Bigger Than Me” campaign, which aims to uplift women through video series and online resources regardless of their weight.
“Weight, obesity and health, those are different things. What you look like does not make you healthy,” she said.
The actress also spoke about the second season of The Equalizer, which premiered on Oct. 10. The Equalizer airs Sundays on CBS at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
