Raven-Symoné Says Body Shaming as a Kid Led to 'So Many Mental Issues'
After dealing with body shaming as a Disney Channel kid in the 00’s, Raven-Symoné wishes she grew up in today’s more body positive era.
“I wish I was living now as a younger person,” the actress, 31, tells PEOPLE Now. “I probably wouldn’t have so many mental issues.”
The former That’s So Raven star and singer says that people would fat shame her to her face.
“[They said] I was too big to be doing an hour and a half concert. ‘I don’t know how she can dance being that big.’ And I was like, ‘I still did it!’ ” Raven-Symoné recalls. “I was on tour forever because it’s not about your size, it’s about what you have to say, if you can sing or dance, and performing. It’s not about your size.”
This isn’t the first time she’s opened up about body shaming — Raven-Symoné revealed in 2015 that she was told not to eat food on the set of The Cosby Show at age 7.
“It was definitely hard,” she said on The View. “I remember not being able to have the bagel or anything at – we would call it crafty, where it’s just a table of food, ready for you to eat whatever you want. And I remember people would be like, ‘You can’t eat that. You’re getting fat!’ I’m like, ‘I’m 7! I’m hungry!’ ”
Raven-Symoné, who recently returned to the Disney Channel with Raven’s Home, a reboot of That’s So Raven, says people are more accepting today.
“I love embracing your body,” she tells PEOPLE Now. “In this day and age you have all kinds, and it’s funny, it’s serious, it’s every color, it’s every head shape, it’s every hair. And there’s androgyny, and there’s LGBT coming in, and it feels good. We didn’t have it enough last time and I guess that’s what the past is for — to make sure the present is what it needs to be.”
Raven-Symoné adds that it’s important to have individuality.
“The world is too big to have one sort of view to show beauty, because then you are literally destroying society,” she says. “You are literally destroying it. And then you want to talk about how we are judgmental to each other and this and this. But it’s being created in the industry that we’re in. So why not break the mold?”
