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LeAnn Rimes says that all the speculation about her recent weight loss is nothing but bullying. On Thursday's Ellen DeGeneres show, the country singer denied once again that she has an eating disorder -- and lashed out at critics of her rapidly shrinking body. Watch a clip from the interview below!
"I've kind of gotten over it," said Rimes, 28, when asked about tabloid reports that she's anorexic or bulimic. "These are diseases and people are using them as name-calling. It's almost bullying."
For interviewer Ellen DeGeneres, the issue is personal: her wife Portia de Rossi had a life-threatening eating disorder, which she documented in her memoir Unbearable Lightness. After mentioning de Rossi, DeGeneres asked Rimes flat-out if she was anorexic.
"No, I am not," declared Rimes. "(The press) has been very irresponsible, calling a lot of people fat or anorexic or bulimic or whatever it may be."
For the past six months, it feels like Rimes has been on a neverending press tour in defense of her weight. In March, she started obsessively uploading pictures of her meals to prove that she was eating. She tweeted that she was "over it" back in April, then rushed to assure fans she was healthy after she released honeymoon bikini pictures in May.
Things have pretty much continued in that vein since then; even her husband, Playboy Club star Eddie Cibrian, has been gushing to the press about how "very healthy" his wife is. And still, the press continues to comment on her weight.
Rimes told DeGeneres that she feels "a sense of responsibility" for people who are actually anorexic and bulimic. Why, then, does she think she's being bullied every time someone calls her skinny? Not that it's fair how the press scrutinizes female stars' weight, but Rimes should really have learned to tune it out by now. Even seemingly innocent remarks -- like E! correspondent Giuliana Rancic saying that she likes Rimes with "more curves" -- have elicited hostility from the singer-actress.
We don't know Rimes' personal weight situation any more than the tabloids do, but we kind of wish that everyone would stop talking about it.
