Don’t tell Kim and Kourtney, but Khloé Kardashian has always been my favorite of America’s most popular reality TV family. Why? Because she’s, to me, the most real, if you will. She’s shown herself to be the brashest of an already outspoken clan, as well as the most vulnerable, especially as her marriage to Lamar Odom started to crumble.
The other reason Khloé is my favorite is because, as someone who’s struggled with my weight, I feel a kinship with her. She’s been open about her struggles with body image and eating issues in a way that’s refreshing. In Kardashian Konfidential, written by the three sisters, Khloé admitted:
“When I was young I fantasized about being a Victoria’s Secret model. Because back in those days they were the only models who were allowed to have boobs and a butt. Everyone else was skinny skinny.”
She also confessed in the book to going to the extreme when it came to working out:
“I wasn’t anorexic or bulimic, thank God, but I guess I wasn’t eating as much as I should have, and I started working out so much that I became incredibly thin. Sometimes I would go to the gym three times a day, and I had weights in my bedroom so I’d always be lifting. At my heaviest, I was probably a size 10 or 12. But during the this time I got down to a size 0, which I can’t even imagine now.”
Weight struggles are something that’s hard even for the most rich or glamorous of celebrities to fake. So I was excited to see that Khloé is publishing her first solo book, Strong Looks Better Naked, on November 3rd by Regan Arts. She made an appearance Sunday at BookCon in New York City to promote it (though most headlines about it focused solely on her blue David Koma body con dress rather than the book itself).
The Amazon listing for the book explained the inspirational title:
“Khloé Kardashian shares her secrets for finding strength of body, heart, mind, and soul with inspirational, revealing stories of her own struggles with weight, relationships, and her self-image. In a culture that worships skinny, Khloé Kardashian writes with passion about the power of strength: a strong body becomes a strong mind, which builds to strength of heart, character, and ultimately strength of spirit. This is an inspiring book about how to create strength and true beauty in every area of your life, inside and out.”
In a press release, Kardashian said, “I am so excited about sharing my philosophy on how I live and the power of strength. I hope to be an inspiration to readers everywhere on how they can create their own true strength and beauty inside and out.”
While the appetite for celebrity diet tips seems insatiable, I hope Kardashian will use this opportunity to share personal insights that go a bit beyond the usual tips like “drink 5 liters of water a day.” In March, she told People she works out “almost every day” and said, “I kind of eat what I want, but in portion control, which I never knew before. It’s really hard. You have to train your body to eat less. Your eyes are bigger than your stomach.” Since surely she knows people are already obsessing over every pound she gains or loses, she’s smart to tackle the topic head on. Will Kardashian address her use of waist training, a form of corset training sisters Kim and Kourtney have also publicly touted? Or the media’s constant scrutiny of her body’s fluctuations? That remains to be seen, but any message that’s about valuing our body’s strength over its skinniness sounds promising to me.
I’m glad to see a woman as famous as Khloé using her fame to offer a positive message, especially in light of all the girls following crazy fads like the Kylie Jenner lip challenge, an example, to me, of celebrity star power run amok. That’s not to say any of us should take celebrity diet or exercise advice as gospel, but if any of the Kardashians are going to offer an honest message about not trying to look “perfect,” it’s Khloé.
