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EXCLUSIVE— As one of the most recognizable supermodels of the 1980s, Kim Alexis knows a thing or two about the pressure of meeting beauty standards, but she also sees a dangerous trend among those who are eschewing those standards completely.
Over the course of her modeling career, Alexis graced over 500 magazine covers, including Vogue and Glamour, and made six appearances in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She said she is well-acquainted with what is and isn’t a healthy beauty mindset and diet, sharing some concerns about the body positivity trend. Body positivity is a social movement promoting the acceptance of all body types, regardless of size or appearance. While advocates say it encourages embracing and loving one’s bodies, critics have warned that it elevates unhealthy lifestyles and obesity.
“Well, if you’re thinking of body positivity as, ‘This is me. This is who I am. I love myself.’ That’s where we should all start, I believe,” Alexis told Digital in an interview.
“Now, I think to go a step further, it’s, ‘How can I improve?’” she continued. “‘What could be better? How can I stay healthy or go towards health?’ And I think that’s the difference is that some people accept, ‘This is just who I am, and I don’t need to change, and I’m not changing, and I don’t care what society says.’ They can say that, and I think in their mind that can be healthy, at least for accepting yourself and having that self-love. But I believe it’s unhealthy if you’re overweight or too underweight, and you’re not where the body is designed to be.”
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Kim Alexis. (Phyllis Lane)
Alexis identified a tension between embracing that so-called “self-love” and promoting physical health. She also noted that maintaining one’s health looks different with age.
“I think self-love and accepting yourself should lead to, how do I maintain or how do I better myself?” she said. “And I believe we need to be doing and saying that all through our lives. I’m in my 60s now, and it’s like, ‘OK, I’m not running 10 miles a day, but what can I do to stay healthy? How do I keep moving? What in my age group is good for me at this point?'”
One former body positivity influencer recently spoke to The New York Times about why she regretted being a spokesperson for the movement.
“I’m only five feet tall and at my heaviest, I was close to 400 pounds,” Gabriella Lascano told the outlet. “I started to wonder if loving myself at any size had become an excuse to ignore how big I was getting. I felt like I saw myself being brainwashed, essentially. Meanwhile, the language around body positivity began sounding more extreme online.”
Supermodel Kim Alexis says body positivity can become unhealthy, urging women to move beyond self-acceptance toward actively improving their health. (iStock)
In 2023, she posted a video denouncing body positivity, saying she felt “guilty” for being a part of the movement and adding that it’s “not fatphobic to care about your health.”
However, body positivity advocates like the Body Positive Alliance say one’s body “should not be the determinant of self-worth and self-perception” and everyone, regardless of shape, should have access to the same opportunities.
“People, regardless of body type, gender, race, and ability deserve to feel confident, as well as represented through our organization’s messaging,” the group says on its website.
Also making health headlines in the past couple of years has been the skyrocketing use of Ozempic. Alexis told Digital it’s hard to gauge how effective the injection is quite yet because there haven’t been enough studies on its long-term effects.
“I think it is a good start for some people who do have some glucose and sugar problems,” Alexis said. “I believe before people go on it, they should have that A1C marker checked because it’s not… It shouldn’t be used as a crutch — it should be used as a supportive tool in getting yourself back to being healthy, being active, eating correctly.”
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She said a good start would be for people to get educated on what they’re putting in their bodies and understanding the importance of eating “as clean and healthy as possible.”
Three injectable prescription weight loss medicines — Ozempic, Victoza and Wegovy. (Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Alexis recalled how much pressure she and her fellow models were under in the world of 1980s fashion and compared it to the scrutiny young women face today. But she said it’s a matter of how they manage that scrutiny.
“Oh my gosh, the fashion industry was tough no matter what,” she said. “They were always looking for something that could change. You were not so much celebrated for things, I think, as people are now, or they’re doing self-celebration.”
Alexis added, “And I think we also put more pressure on ourselves than maybe others do. We perceive that there’s more pressure and that does one of two things: It either drives you too far where you’re fanatical and that’s all you think about, or it drives you to better yourself. And as you know, my vote is to always better yourself.”
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Alexis has a new podcast set to release in mid-April called “UNEXPIRED,” in which she’ll further explore the topics of health and wellness.
Digital’s Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi contributed to this report.
