Skinnygirl made everyone too skinny. Now selling padded undies.

Sigh. When it comes to body shape, it turns out you actually, really, definitely, absolutely, can never, ever win.

Ever heard of Bethenny Frankel? She’s an American reality star turned weight-loss… guru? Expert? Person? Whatever you call it, when it comes to weightloss, Frankel is it.

She did away with the whole ‘healthy lifestyle’ ruse and just got straight to the point: It’s all about being skinny. Frankel launched an extremely popular brand called ‘Skinnygirl’ a few years ago and it has taken off.

There’s skinny everything: skinny alcohol, skinny bars, skinny snacks, skinny books (including one called Naturally Skinny, which seems odd since she’s insisting nobody’s naturally skinny enough without her products).

Frankel’s sad obsession with her weight has been well documented (as the problems of reality stars tend to be). She has admitted to being obsessed with her weight her entire life – a fixation she attributes to her mother, who struggled with eating disorders and extreme dieting. “There was a lot of food obsession and diet obsession and being-thin obsession,” she has said of her childhood.

She even admitted that her mother once sent her to a child obesity camp, because she had the audacity to look like this at age 8:

“My mother was very beautiful and very thin,” she said. “Being thin was very important to her and part of her identity.”

Hmmm. Being thin was ‘part of her identity’. Considering she now runs a business called ‘Skinnygirl’, one can only assume that the skinny obsession has unfortunately run in the family. Sad.

Anyway, after launching an entire empire based around the concept of not being good enough, it’s not surprising that Frankel has now decided that being thin isn’t good enough. After convincing millions of women (including herself) that being ‘skinny’ was the ultimate goal, Frankel has now reached a wall. A skinny wall.

And where do you go once you’ve achieved all your skinny goals?

Back the other way, it would seem.

Frankel has started selling a line of padded undies. Well, the technical term is ‘Skinnygirl Booty Booster’, but they are pretty much just padded undies. To make your bum look bigger.

Yep. The creator of Skinnygirl has decided we’re too skinny. But don’t panic, starting from $20, she can fill you out. Here’s a still from her talk-show show last week when she was spruiking the fat-bum pants. (I’m not entirely sure why there’s a Jersey Shore cast member and an elderly woman there, but whatevs):

Her website says the undies have ‘Soft foam pads for believable bum enhancement.’

Breathing…

Breathing…

Ok. I’ve been calm long enough. I’m just going to point out the obvious here:

YOU WOULDN’T NEED A BUM ENHANCEMENT IF YOU DIDN’T LOSE AN UNHEALTHY AMOUNT OF WEIGHT IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Ahem.

Normally this kind of thing would make me laugh and rage in equal measure, but to be honest, I mostly just find this whole situation kind of sad. Why?

Because Frankel’s business is clearly not just based on ‘being skinny’. It’s based on not being good enough. Ever.

She’s making millions of dollars off women by telling them their worth is in direct correlation with how skinny they are. Except woops, not if you’re too skinny. Now you need a butt-lift.

You just can’t win.

You know where that millions would have been better spent? On teaching women how to love themselves as they are.

The queen of ‘Skinnygirl’ telling us we need to look bigger just proves one thing:

Chasing a specific beauty ideal is futile and damaging, because the ideal WILL ALWAYS BE OUT OF YOUR REACH.