Why Adele’s Weight Loss Is Making Me Think About Body Image

If you, like hundreds of millions of other people around the world, are an Adele fan, then you’re likely aware that one of the greatest artists of our lifetime has recently lost a lot of weight. As a young girl, I admired Adele’s fearless confidence in herself at any size, and I wonder if her transformation might change how her young female fans see themselves.

Of course, it isn’t Adele’s responsibility alone to carry the weight of being a body-positive role model on her 15-time Grammy award-winning shoulders. But it’s undeniable that high-profile plus-size women like Adele — who owned the spaces they worked in and were, quite frankly, badass — played a significant part in changing the cultural message that skinnier is better. Adele showed young girls that they could rise to the top of an industry because of their talent, not their weight. And when one of the world’s most celebrated plus-size women is no longer plus-size, it seems possible that young girls will take their weight loss to heart.

We don’t know much about why Adele chose to lose weight because she has not shared much about her decision. She did, however, mention to British Vogue that she lost weight with the help of trainers and was able to do so because she had a lot of free time (as the mega-rich often do).

When I first became aware of the body positivity movement, I held on to it like it was a gift. It felt like a reason to finally stop caring about my size and permission to be more confident. I followed every plus-size model I could find on Instagram, awed at their confidence because I had grown up thinking women who looked like me couldn’t be sexy and own it.

The good news is, there are still so many plus-size women spreading messages of body positivity that young women can and should look up to, like Ashley Graham, Tabria Majors, and La'tecia Thomas, to mention a few. Many of these queens are models and actors working in industries and spaces that have historically shunned big bodies. It’s inspiring to scroll through Instagram and see real bodies celebrated.

We can all agree that Adele has always been a stunning and captivating beauty. The impact of Adele being one of the most successful entertainers of all time while being plus-size is a clear indication that size isn’t the only thing that matters. Over everything, we need to teach girls early to be kind to themselves and about positive body image as early as possible. Then, we can finally be a genuinely body-positive society.