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Christina Aguilera isn't deaf to criticisms about her weight -- but she's come to realize they're not personal. The 31-year-old The Voice coach says that all women in the music industry are held to an impossible standard when it comes to their looks.
"I've been on all spectrums," Aguilera told reporters at the TCA conference Friday. "I've been in this (business) for a long time. I came out on the scene when I was 17 years old. You can never be too much of anything. You can never be too perfect, too thin, too curvy, voluptuous, this, that."
The singer has gotten curvier since giving birth to son Max three years ago -- but rather than fighting it, she says that she is "happy with where I'm at" and "very confident" in her body. For that matter, so is her boyfriend Matt Rutler.
"I have a boyfriend that loves my body. I love my body," she declared proudly. "My son is healthy and happy. That's all that matters."
Dressed in a flowy low-cut gown, Aguilera joined her fellow The Voice coaches on Friday to promote the NBC singing competition's upcoming second season. The Grammy winner says that one thing that drew her to the competition is that it's about talent, not image.
"(The Voice) really gives artists that aren't so mainstream or commercially approachable (a chance)," said Aguilera. "It's about taking it back to the real heart of music... There's that raw talent that draws you in."
True to her word, in season 1 Aguilera threw her coaching power behind two women who are the polar opposite of the music industry's "type": American Idol reject Frenchie Davis and bald lesbian rocker Beverly McClellan. Neither would be able to squeeze into Aguilera's skimpy stage costumes, but both are strong, dynamic performers whose talent deserved a wider audience. Could it be that her relationship with Frenchie and Beverly convinced her to be more comfortable in her own skin? Regardless, the fact that she chose these two artists to support, out of The Voice's many talented contestants, means that Aguilera is doing her part to change the way the entertainment industry sees women. And that's a much bigger statement than gaining a few pounds.
