Jaime King on Banning Underweight Models: It’s ‘Radically Unfair to Say If You’re a Size Zero, Then You Can’t Work’
For King, 38, the process of conceiving her son, James, 4, was harrowing. It took ten different doctors before she was finally diagnosed with endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome, and before that happened, the actress had five miscarriages, went through five rounds of IVF and 26 artificial inseminations. She decided to speak out about her fertility struggles in 2014 to help other women. “I was hiding what I was going through for so long, and I hear about so many women going through what I went through. If I’m open about it, hopefully it won’t be so taboo to talk about it,” she told PEOPLE in 2015.
At New York Fashion Week on Saturday, actress Jaime King responded to the recent ban on size zero models by French fashion companies.
“I think it would be radically unfair to say if you’re a size zero, then you can’t work, just like it’s unfair to say that if you’re a size 16, you can’t work,” King, 32 told the New York Post.
Last week, French fashion companies Kering and LVMH, who own labels like Dior, Givenchy and Gucci, committed themselves to banning models below French size 34 — which corresponds to a US size 0 — according to Reuters.
“[When] I was diagnosed with endometriosis, I gained 40 pounds because my hormones were so crazy,” King continued. “And it was like, ‘Oh, [producers] want to offer you this role, but they want to know why you got fat.’ I realized being shamed for gaining weight or being too thin felt the same.”
“I’m naturally really thin, and sometimes it’s really hard for me to gain weight,” King added. “When people on Instagram say, ‘Go eat a hamburger,’ I’m like, ‘Wow, they’re body-shaming me for the way I look.’ ”
In 2015, France’s National Assembly passed a law that requires models working in the country to provide a medical certificate stating their overall health and body mass index is appropriate.
Modeling agencies or fashion houses that do not follow the law face imprisonment and a hefty fine of 75,000 euros (approximately $81,000).
The law also regulates the use of Photoshop in commercial photographs. If an image has been digitally altered to make a model look thinner or larger, it must be labeled “retouched photograph.”