Has Hollywood and Reality TV Made Us Hate Ourselves?

The recent suicides of ‘The Bachelor’ star Gia Allemand and former Disney TV actor Lee Thompson, has stunned TV fans around the world and has left them questioning why someone with fame, money and beauty would tragically end their life. As a culture, we have always believed that money and fame equals happiness. The truth is that celebrities often pay a high price for fame. They are often unhappy with their lives, and are under enormous pressure to have the perfect image, the perfect body, and the perfect life.

Young girls and women around the world put celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Rihanna on a pedestal and mistakenly believe that if they looked like their favorite female stars, they would feel good about themselves. The fact is that some of the biggest names in Hollywood don’t feel confident about themselves. Considered as one of the most beautiful women in the world, Oscar winning actress Halle Berry even admits to suffering from low self esteem. She was quoted as saying, “I think I’ve spent my adult life dealing with the sense of low self-esteem that is sort of implanted in me. Somehow I felt not worthy.” http://hindimovies.itztoday.com/2010/12/hollywood-actress-halle-berry-struggles.html

The reality is that a lot of women feel insecure and unattractive because they compare themselves to the women in Hollywood and reality television stars like NeNe Leakes. A popular study by Today.com surveyed 19,000 people and found that those who watched reality shows had lower self-esteem than non-watchers of reality TV shows. http://www.tvguide.com/News/Reality-TV-Study-1057707.aspx

While Reality TV and Hollywood has dwindled women’s self esteem by telling them they have to have a certain look to be considered beautiful, it has also depicted black women as being loud mouthed, ignorant gold-diggers who have no class. With negative images about women running rampant on television, women must take responsibility for themselves and nurture their inner diva. Here are 4 tips to raising self-esteem:

1. Women must begin to redefine beauty for themselves and not compare themselves to celebrities. When you compare yourself to others, you are diminishing your self-worth and self-confidence. In order to feel beautiful, you must focus on what you have, not what you don’t have. If you believe that having big breasts and a large derriere makes you beautiful but you don’t have either of those attributes, you will always feel insecure about your looks. Redefine beauty on your own terms and include yourself in that new definition of beauty. Just because you don’t look like the models in the BET videos does not mean you aren’t hot. Every woman is hot in her own way.

2. Women must celebrate their beauty. Many women don’t celebrate who they are because they feel ashamed that they don’t measure up. They hide themselves behind make-up to cover up their true feelings about themselves. While make-up has its place in a woman’s life, it can’t erase low-self worth. In order to raise self-esteem, women must learn to celebrate, love and accept themselves exactly as they are. Wrinkles and stretch marks are no reason to hate the skin you’re in. Do your best to look your best but remember to celebrate and focus on what is great about you; both inside and out.

3. Practice positive self- talk daily. A lot of women beat up on themselves for not looking like Nicki Minaj or Tamar Braxton. They focus on what they dislike about their bodies and base their entire self worth on their small imperfections. Instead of criticizing your body, pick a body part you love and tell yourself you are sexy. Do this repeatedly throughout the day, regardless of how you really feel. Over time, you will train your mind to think positive, healthy thoughts about yourself and see yourself as sexy.

4. Write a list of 10 qualities you love about yourself and read it to yourself in the morning and before bed. If you put your attention on what you love about yourself, you will have no choice but to feel secure and confident in your own skin.

Fame, beauty and fortune in and of themselves cannot bring about happiness or self-love. Hollywood and Reality TV often give us the false message that we aren’t good enough. If we decide to live by our own rules and define our own standards of beauty, we will never second guess our own value.

by Florence Edwards

About Florence Edwards, CEO of Publicity 911

Florence Edwards is a dynamic PR professional who possesses stellar writing experience. She creates compelling content for PR/communications plans, media kits, press releases, bios, brochures, and has served the entertainment industry for nearly a decade. The highly esteemed ghostwriter, editor, and consultant is the brainchild of Publicity 911, an innovative PR company that provides exceptional public relations, editing, branding and content writing services. Visit www.Publicity911.com for more info.

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