We Read It So You Don't Have To: Eva Longoria Parker Wants You to Know She Wears a Size Zero

Near the end of the “The Good Wife,” the profile of Eva Longoria Parker in the November issue of Allure, writer Judith Newman describes her subject this way:

Longoria Parker becomes quite animated during this discussion; there is always the sense that she is the little sister—and the hot girl—who was not always taken seriously.

A lack of self-awareness is so unbecoming. Having read this interview in its entirety, the only thing Newman takes seriously about Longoria Parker is her uterus. The woman is obsessing over the notion that an egg may have implanted itself in the actress’ womb. Such gynecological mania is a little unsettling, honestly.

But that’s not all the article contains! Also included:

• Multiple insinuations that, despite her denials, the actress is pregnant (Among the less-than-convincing factoids presented as evidence of an impending birth: she drank iced tea instead of wine with lunch and wore flats instead of Louboutin wedges)

• A painstaking dissection of the actress’ seven-pound weight gain

• The author “begging” the Desperate Housewives star to reveal whether she’s with child

Thought-provoking stuff, right? I’m not saying the two should have discussed the ongoing clashes in Congo. But even the most uninformed examination of that topic would have been a more enlightening read than the four outraged paragraphs that the star’s slight weight gain commands.

“I’ve stopped working out and gained about seven pounds over the summer, which is a lot for a small person,” she says. “But I’m still a size 0.”

Oh, good! Those size 2 women are just slothful!

“And yet every magazine is tearing me apart,” the actress continues. “It’s like, ‘Oh, my God! She’s fat!’ I hate that message they’re sending out to young women everywhere who think, ‘God, she’s a size 0, and she’s still too big.’…”

Magazines like this one, for which pregnancy is the only explanation for gaining weight?

Ordinarily, I’d concur wholeheartedly with Longoria Parker’s assessment—except that she vehemently reminds us readers that canceling her workouts was motivated by her character’s weight gain, and that she’s wearing padding on the show to simulate a more dramatic change. If you’re trying to sell the notion that the media is promoting unhealthy ideas about weight, maybe you shouldn’t protest at every available opportunity that you deliberately put on a few pounds for your extremely well-paying job. Maybe you shouldn’t announce that you’ve already gone back to your trainer to shed that extra weight, meaning you were a slightly more substantial size 0 for a month or two. Oh, the sacrifices thespians make for their art!

This is how she concludes her anti-tabloid screed:

“I never went up a size. I just got a little rounder.”

Why the repetitive rationalization based on her clothing size? Because if her size zeroes became a bit snug, then the criticism would be warranted? Because sizing up to a 2 would be definitive proof that she is, in fact, “fat”?

Of course not.  But judging by this article, Allure would probably take it as proof that she’s carrying quintuplets.

Comments

[Katie]

For what it's worth, there were a few blind items last month about an actress who was hiding her pregnancy for fear of another miscarriage who then miscarried yet again. Everyone thought it was her.

[Glossed Over]

Katie, I saw a similar blind item. If that was her, it casts the situation in a whole different light. Being asked repeatedly whether you're pregnant when you've just suffered a miscarriage? Yikes.

I don't think the author was coming from a malicious place, but I also don't think she needed to keep digging and hinting about something Longoria Parker clearly was not interested in revealing. Whether or not she's pregnant isn't exactly a matter worth probing in the name of national security, you know?

[Courtney]

I am so over Allure magazine. Their interviews have become so rude lately.

[Jaci]

Oh, yuck. A seven pound weight gain has her all upset? I can fluctuate that much in one day - but I still wear a zero, of course. :)

[SJ]

I can wear a zero...on my leg! *rimshot*

Have you seen this? I thought it was fascinating to see visually, though I agree with the author about the credibility of those polls:

http://contexts.org/socimages/2008/10/26/mens-and-womens-ideal-female-body/

[Glossed Over]

SJ, I hadn't seen that! Thanks.

The survey results are fascinating. 77% of men wish their partners were more "body confident," but 28% of men want their girlfriends to drop a dress size? No one wins that one.

[liz]

Oh man. Ohhhh man. My friend recommended this website to me, as she knows I have a love/HATE relationship with fashion magazines. You and I are going to have a LOT in common, darling. I read that article. It reminds me of when Elizabeth Hurley said in an interview that if she was as "fat" as Marilyn Monroe (!), she would KILL HERSELF.
Size 0. Pffffft.

[Emily]

Courtney you're right, they ARE rude interviews lately... I remember a couple months ago they interviewed Posh Spice and the writer tried repeatedly to goad Posh into saying something nasty about overweight people, even asking whether there was "an ick factor" when she saw people who were overweight. I'm not a big fan of Victoria Beckham, but she impressed me when she took umbrage with the interviewer and disgustedly told her it was nasty to comment on people's weight.
Quite apart from how Posh might feel about overweight people, HOW ABOUT HOW AN OVERWEIGHT PERSON MIGHT FEEL IF THEY READ IN ALLURE THAT AN "ICK FACTOR" IS TO BE EXPECTED WHEN ANYONE LOOKS AT THEM?!?!?!?!?!?!?

[Kathleen]

A size 0 - She she is announcing to the world that she is built like an 11 year old who has yet to hit puberty... ;/

[komert]

Who actually cares which size she has, when she looks like a real goddesы - http://file.sh/eva+longoria+torrent.html ?