Estefanía Villarreal has suffered from “body shaming” for years. (Photo by Victor Chavez/Getty Images) (Victor Chavez via Getty Images)
It was 2004 when “Rebelde”, the group of teenagers studying at an elite school, conquered the audience. The story that brought fame to the musical group, currently on a world tour, was a success; despite the classist discourses, misogyny, bullying and fatphobia that it incorporated into its script.
In addition to the protagonists (Mía, Lupita and Roberta), the story also relied on other characters, such as Celina, who suffered hurtful comments from other characters about her obesity.
The images showed the suffering of Celina, who was attacked because she had a different body than most female characters in the story, therefore did not dare to wear swimsuits and felt worse than her peers.
That was part of the fiction, yes, but no one questioned the extent of the verbal attacks the character received, nor whether they could in any way affect the then 16-year-old actress Estefanía Villarreal.
The path of empowerment
Estefanía launched a self-love campaign in 2017 when she released a message in which she talked about freedom, personal empowerment and unconditional love for yourself: “For me, it was never about a size or a number, but about growing every inch of it love.” My skin. It is a daily task to honor, love, respect and appreciate the temple I have.
In 2022, she also spoke about it: “My idea is to open the field to other possibilities in this diversity of bodies so that people can feel confident and empower themselves; say to the world: ‘Here we are’ and represent the girls who have plus points.” Size that opens the range to many people who see us and we are their inspiration.
The flag of self-care and self-love has become the actress’ own. For example, last August she posted a photo in which she mentioned that while there was great effort and self-love in her, she also had sadness, disappointment, therapy, emotional support, family, friends and a lot of strength.
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Your mission: end “body shaming.”
For all these reasons, the actress could not remain silent in the face of the video published by TikToker Jesús Arana, who claims to be a plastic surgeon and makes fun of the fact that he tried to dress up as Mía Colucci and was mistaken for Celina be.
I’ll leave you with the context of this extremely RIDICULOUS man. I have never understood what they see and celebrate, and with that I confirm that he is definitely NOT good at what he does, he doesn’t care what he destroys and calls himself a “doctor” ” https:// t.co/koLeQBxQt2
— 🌞Maris (@mgzmnt) November 7, 2023
The actress quickly responded, saying she found it unfortunate that in 2023 there are people “who still believe that a 16-year-old’s body is being ridiculed.”
She also regretted that the plastic surgeon had used “body shaming” to generate likes and expressed how sad she was that she continues to be harassed about her appearance 20 years after “Rebelde.” Finally, he recommended that he grow up and educate himself about mental health.
But that wasn’t the end of the story, as the Tiktoker tried to defend himself by belittling the actress’s feelings: “Who makes fun of you? You’re shaming yourself. In other words, you’re assuming that looking like yourself is wrong. Relax,” he mentioned in another video.
And again Villarreal exposed him for his “misogyny and insensitivity” and warned him to be more careful about what he published in the future.
Estefanía settled the argument by reminding him that “you have no right to talk about my body or anyone else’s, even if you are the coolest doctor in all of Colombia. In case it wasn’t clear, we don’t talk about other people’s bodies.
It is not the first time that a former “rebel” has had to defend herself against the criticism she receives because of her performance. Last September, Maite Perroni had to respond to the comments she received because she didn’t look like Lupita, the character she played.
In an interview with the program Primer Impacto, the actress and singer assured that the extra kilos did not bother her, because the only relevant thing in her life was that she gave birth to her daughter, which is part of her current process as a human being: “ It doesn’t matter if you look chubby or less chubby, with more, with less, in life we go through different phases and I think we have to learn to embrace and accept who we are.”
Fatphobia didn’t remain in the script of “Rebelde” in 2004, nor did misogyny. Two decades later, actresses continue to face it. Even Anahí suffered when she was told that the protagonists were thin and very pretty, “and you are chubby and need to work on yourself a lot.”
I wish the world had changed as much as she did in those 20 years.
