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Courtesy of Novo Nordisk
In all these years that Queen Latifah has been a household name, one of the things she hasn’t really openly discussed is her weight. But for the first time, she shares her health journey with the aim of highlighting a new partnership. She has partnered with pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk to change the narrative surrounding obesity. Their goal, through a series of short videos meant to play out like modern TV shows, is to reduce the stigma and shame people try to attach to illness and focus more on things, like problems. hormones and biology that can cause it. Hence the campaign title, “It’s Bigger Than Me”.
“If there’s anything we can trigger with one of these shorts, with any of these videos, that keeps someone from saying something insensitive or hurting themselves with their own words he says to himself internally, so we make a difference, ”she told ESSENCE.
The campaign made sense to the star due to her own experiences of shame on her body as a teenager.
“The feeling of self-hatred is really, really scary. I had these flashes of this feeling through my teenage years and I was like, ‘This is a dark place,’ “she told ESSENCE.” And around 18, I just remember being looked in the mirror and I was like, I was like, “Dana, you have a choice. You are either going to choose to love yourself or you are going to choose to hate yourself. What are you going to do ?’ And I chose to love myself.
From that point on, choosing to operate from a place of self-esteem helped Queen overcome doubts and negativity associated with her height, including when being projected onto her by others. in industry. She hopes that through the campaign, she and Novo Nordisk can help people, from those struggling with obesity to those who know someone who is, change their mindset about the subject. .
“It truly is a self-esteem journey for those of us who experience it,” she says. “And this is a journey of love for those who care to find their way into a new narrative.”
Find out what Queen has to say about her own self-esteem journey, outside opinions about her size, and why her partnership with Novo Nordisk is so important right now.
ESSENCE: Tell us about this campaign you are running with Novo Nordisk and the efforts to reframe the way people view obesity. What attracted you?
Queen Latifah: I think it was a conversation we all had when we sat down to talk about the goal: to be educated about what obesity is, the stigma that comes with it, the shame that comes with it. How could we attack this existence, change this whole narrative and create more of a community, a support system if you will, through the It’s Bigger Than Me campaign. And I thought that was an important thing, and it didn’t. was not really anything other than that. Really just building community and talking to people, and using what we do creatively in movies and TV to get that message out. I felt like we were all on the same page after one meeting and that we all had good intentions. And we all know someone, if not ourselves, who is going through this or who has been through it. So why not make a difference? Why not see if we can do something to change it?
In one of the campaign videos, you briefly mention your own experience of being judged by others on your weight. If you don’t mind sharing, what were those experiences for you?
I remember when I used to do Living Single, word came that we needed to lose weight and it was like what? Now remember, we have the number one show among black and Latino audiences, Latinx, back then. And we have a hit show and you tell us we need to lose weight. Tell us that exactly. Why are you telling us this? We look like real people. We look like real women. We’re all different. And these are the kinds of things that come to you that can shake your self-esteem. This is the kind of insensitivity that we are fighting against right now. It’s the kind of shame planting that can destroy self-esteem.
So of course it may bother you. And it was embarrassing and it was disheartening, disappointing, and it made me angry and it made me want to fight it. I felt like we represented the women in our community and that they needed to see that kind of representation. It bothered me. But of course, it didn’t make a difference. I haven’t changed anything because of it. If anything, I’m just the rebel. Don’t tell me what to do, because I will do the opposite. But it made me aware.
What was your experience, your own look at your body? As someone who has represented, as you mentioned, taller women, has this ever been a difficult responsibility?
I am comfortable with my body and I like it. And I need to be motivated to change it, if I am [going to]. Other than that, I’m happy with myself. And I’m happy to be the one I need to be there, in the moment, now. But I’m an actor, so if I want to change something for a particular character, I think some characters have to be bigger and fuller, more voluptuous. Some characters, I think, need to be fitter, not in terms of health, but in terms of muscle tone. And so I work to do it.
I have had people who wanted me to lose weight and then I remember meeting a woman in Louisiana, when she saw me she said, “Queen Latifah! Oh, you are skinny. The way she said it was the same as saying, “You’re fat! That was how she said it. I felt like, skinny? It was almost like she was putting me down. I was like, “Wow.” I was not feeling well. I almost felt like I wasn’t representing, because I felt like I had represented us, the thickest girls, for a minute now. But she gave me the impression, “Girl, you are getting too skinny. You are unable to represent me. And I’m like “Oh wow, this is deep.”
But in general, I’m happy with myself. I accept myself for myself. I accepted that I am not a size two, I am not a size eight. I probably haven’t done a size eight since I was eight. I’m cool with it.
In the age of social media, there are people out there who are encouraging people to love themselves, their bodies and their body image a lot right now, and it’s very encouraging and inspiring. But we’re also in a time where there are people using their platforms to say, “Well, in the days of COVID, being obese is killing people. With those perspectives in mind, how important is it, as you said, to have this conversation with the It’s Bigger Than Me campaign?
Well, if that’s what you think, that’s one more reason for you to know what’s going on. That you should go to itsbiggerthan.com. You should know exactly what this means. And you should talk to your doctor and find out where you are. Or if this is someone you care about, you should gently bring it to their attention to just check that out. You don’t have to have a conversation with them, they should be able to use the tools themselves and read at their own pace. Visualize in their own moment and make the different choices if they wish.
But it’s a health issue, so I understand that. It’s also in the delivery of the message, and the problem is, the message has been bad for a long time. The message was wrong. The message was sent the wrong way. People have been made to feel bad about themselves. So let me understand correctly, do you think you’re going to make someone feel bad about themselves and change their behavior? I’m not sure if it’s the right way or if it’s effective. I think if it hasn’t worked so far, there might be a new way to do it. And I hope what we’re doing is a new way of approaching it. A new way to educate people, and maybe give you a new way to try to change that. So of course we all want help. We want to live long. You know? Forever. Understood. I understand you. But we have to do it the right way so that the message is not just physical life. It is a mental, spiritual, physical life. It is a full, whole, encompassing life. And so we have to deal with it in the right way.
For more information and to view clips from the campaign, visit ItsBiggerThan.com.
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