Kim Kardashian Says Elizabeth Taylor Was 'One of the First' to Go Through Public Body Shaming

Mar. 15, 2025

Kim Kardashian (left); Elizabeth Taylor in 1979.Photo:Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty; Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty

Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty; Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty

Elizabeth Taylorpioneered the celebrity experience in many ways.

As one of the earliest stars to be famous for nearly her entire life, the actress and activist was often the subject of intense scrutiny. In the new three-part BBC documentary seriesElizabeth Taylor: Rebel Superstar, those closest to Taylor look back at her struggles with her weight and the public’s reaction to it.

“It’s one thing to gain weight and nobody cares. It’s another to gain weight and everyone’s looking at you and commenting about it and criticizing you about it,” her sonChristopher Wildingsays of the that time in his mother’s life in episode 3, which aired Oct. 11.

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From left: Liza Minnelli, Elizabeth Taylor and Halston at Studio 54 in New York City in 1977.Vinnie Zuffante/Getty

Vinnie Zuffante/Getty

“You’re so famous that the world is attacking you. People were terrible to her,” actressSharon Stonenotes.

Taylor’s weight gain was attributed to a back injury from her childhood, her struggles with alcohol dependency and her changing lifestyle in her 40s. Although her acting career slowed down during this period, the media’s microscope remained trained on her life.

“That’s what fame is like. That’s how fame happens. It’s like a light switch, and then it never goes away,” Stone says.

“Being fat shamed, I mean, that’s traumatizing. And she was one of the first to go through it all,“Kim Kardashian— who was the last person to interview Taylor before the two-time Oscar winner’s death in 2011 and who serves as an executive producer on the documentary — says in the episode. “It’s not easy to be first, you know?”

Elizabeth Taylor in the ’80s.Bertrand LAFORET/Gamma-Rapho via Getty

Bertrand LAFORET/Gamma-Rapho via Getty

Taylor’s granddaughterNaomi Wildingpoints out that so much of her grandmother’s self-esteem was wrapped up in the adulation she’d come to expect from the public after a lifetime in the spotlight.

“Think about what it must have been like when you are told you’re beautiful from the youngest age and then that’s what you’re criticized for — not always being beautiful,” she says.

“The expectation is that if you’re rich, you’re famous, you’ve got all the people behind you to create perfection. So then, why aren’t you perfect?”

source: people.com