Camryn Manheim, 65, Has Long Championed Body Positivity Amid Recent Weight-Loss Buzz
Experts explain why the 'Ghost Whisperer' actress's message about self-acceptance still resonates
Key Takeaways
- Camryn Manheim, 65, has promoted body positivity throughout her decades-long career.
- Experts say body positivity starts with self-acceptance, not perfection.
- Focusing on what your body can do can strengthen body image and improve wellbeing.
Fans know Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actress Camryn Manheim, 65, for her role as attorney Ellenor Frutt on The Practice and as Lieutenant Kate Dixon on Law & Order. But more recently, Manheim has been making headlines for her apparent weight loss as fans are comment on her recent Instagram post “You look so beautiful!!!” and “You look incredible.”
Rumors of the actress having undergone a major weight-loss transformation began circulating after photos of her attending the opening night of Rosie O’Donnell’s new one-woman show, Common Knowledge, were shared online. While Manheim hasn’t commented on her appearance, she’s well known for promoting body positivity years before the modern movement took off. So what exactly has she said, and what do experts want every woman to know about embracing their bodies at every age and stage of life? We have it all here.
How Camryn Manheim reclaimed language around weight loss and body image
As our society and cultural norms change, so do our ideas around language. One way this change happens is through reclaiming words that once had a negative connotation into words of power. Manheim has practiced this through her use of the word “fat.”
In 1998, while accepting the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role in The Practice, Manheim closed her acceptance speech by proudly saying, “This is for all the fat girls.” Manheim also wrote a memoir titled Wake Up, I’m Fat!
“I think reclaiming ‘fat’ as a neutral descriptor, the way we might say ‘tall’ or ‘short’ is very powerful,” says Sarah Oreck, MD, MS, a Columbia University-trained psychiatrist focusing on women’s mental wellness with expertise in reproductive psychiatry and ceo of Mavida Health. “That word has been weaponized against larger-bodied people—and women in particular—for generations, used to shrink us into apology and take up less space. Taking it back and stripping away all of that inherited moral judgment is women deciding on their own terms what their bodies are allowed to mean.”
Dr. Oreck cautions, though, that it’s important to keep in mind who is using the word. “It’s most powerful when a person chooses it for themselves, the way Manheim did,” adds Dr. Oreck. “It’s very different though when it’s imposed on someone before they’re ready, because so many of us are still carrying a lifetime of stigma around that word, which is exactly why it can cut so deep when it’s said about you rather than by you. The key is that it should be a person’s own choice, not a label that someone applied to them.”
Manheim on the importance of body acceptance
In a 1999 interview with The New York Times, Manheim shared what she hopes people take away from her messages about weight. “My platform is not fat acceptance, it’s self-acceptance,” she said.
Self-acceptance is a core theme of the modern body positivity movement. “Body positivity means respecting and appreciating your body as it is, rather than measuring it against the narrow, culturally-defined ideal,” explains Dr. Oreck. “It centers on recognizing that self-worth isn’t conditional on size, and that shame tends to make lasting change harder, not easier.”
“Self-acceptance is the foundation everything else is built on, and I’d argue it’s a radical act in a culture that has spent generations profiting off women’s insecurity,” adds Dr. Oreck. “Chasing a smaller or ‘better’ body as a prerequisite for feeling worthy keeps people trapped in a holding pattern because the goalposts move by design.”
3 tips for incorporating body positivity into your life
Whether you’re on a weight-loss journey or struggling with some other aspect of your appearance, there’s room to add body positivity every step of the way. Here are three expert-approved tips:
Think about how your body supports you
“One strategy I often recommend is shifting your attention from how your body looks to how it supports your life,” says Virginia Chow, PhD, licensed clinical psychologist and founder and clinical director of Theraspace. “Instead of asking yourself, ‘How do I feel about the way I look today?’—which can change from day to day—try asking, ‘How did my body support me today?’ Maybe it allowed you to hug your grandchild, take a walk with a friend, recover from an illness or simply get through a challenging day. Research suggests that appreciating what our bodies do rather than constantly evaluating how they look is associated with a healthier body image and greater psychological wellbeing.”
Adjust your behavior
“I love the DBT (dialectical behavior therapy) skill called ‘opposite action,’” says Suzanne Wallach, PsyD, LMFT, owner and clinical director of Suzanne Wallach & Associates and SoCal DBT. “Let’s say you are invited to a pool party, but you’re feeling a lot of anxiety about being in a bathing suit in front of others. You don’t like how your stomach looks or you’re worried about your cellulite, so you may have the urge or instinct to cancel your plans and just stay home. Opposite action encourages you to do the opposite of that urge. Instead of isolating and staying home, put on a bathing suit that makes you feel comfortable and as beautiful as is realistic for right now and go and connect with others. The reality is, no one is focused on your body as much as you are. How many times have you left a conversation with someone and thought, ‘Yeah, I loved hearing about her family vacation, but did you see her arms.’”
Listen to your body
“Body positivity is as individual as one’s relationship with their own body,” says Elizabeth Wassenaar, MD, MS, CEDS-S, regional medical director at Eating Recovery Center and Pathlight Mood & Anxiety Center. “I encourage my patients to be mindful about listening to their body and respecting what their body is telling them. For instance, in this moment, is your body tired of sitting? Are you thirsty? Do you need to stretch? We learn to ignore our body’s communication for so many reasons, and our body learns not to ask for what it needs. We can begin to repair our relationship with our body by receiving those messages and respecting our body. We can take it one step further by expressing gratitude to our body for the things it is doing for us in these moments.”
The bottom line on weight loss and body positivity
While many of us can think of things about ourselves we’d like to change or improve, body positivity reminds us not to forget to celebrate the bodies we have right now and all the ways they support us throughout our lives.
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