Model Whitney Thompson Redefines a Healthy Body Image

When Whitney Thompson is out for a walk—in one of the many cities where the supermodel travels—it is not unusual for a stranger to approach her and blurt out her name like they were old friends. And it is no less strange for the two of them, after moving past what could have been an off-putting introduction, to fall into conversation.

Thompson is a 22-year-old internationally recognized star, but she has a familiar way with people. And while her modeling career has brought her early fame and a handlaid path to a successful living that few have the chance to realize, it is her ability to forge connections and kinship with the people she encounters that she finds most rewarding. “Girls will just walk up to me and talk to me,” she says.

The ease with which she connects with people makes Thompson a powerful ambassador in one of the driving causes in her life—the fight against eating disorders and the shift in perceptions surrounding body image. Earlier this year, Thompson became an official spokesperson for the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), a nonprofit educational and advocacy organization that has been around since 2001. Unlike many other such relationships, however, the nonprofit did not approach Thompson to act as a delegate. It was the other way around. Without stipulation, Thompson approached them.

She started by donating to NEDA a percentage of the sales from Supermodel, her start-up store that purveys women’s accessories, in the fall of 2009, which was followed by a formal spokesperson deal in February. In scope and intent, their paths are united. “We’re fighting for the same cause,” says Thompson. “I hope to work with them for a long time.”

Indeed, the force that drives Thompson has been with her for some time. While she has never fallen vistim to an eating disorder, she works in an industry that revolves around and at once skewers and salutes the notion of body image. While the saluting is directed to the tall and thin figures that grace magazine spreads and runways, the skewering often comes at the expense of the notions of the body type of “regular” women and girls.

Some of what catapulted Thompson to fame, in fact, derives from her pursuit toward overturning these perceptions. Two years ago, Thompson competed on America’s Next Top Model, and she took home the top prize, winning the competition as the first so-called “full-figured” model in the show’s history. Her success led to a lucrative modeling contract and other big-time sponsorships. But from the start her intentions were her own. “One of the reasons why I went on Top Model was to help fight eating disorders,” she says.

While she plays an active role with NEDA, Thompson continues to tour the country on her own to speak with potentially at-risk teenagers and young adults. In these speaking engagements, she addresses a range of topics: the influences that may spark an eating disorder or the misrepresentation of women’s bodies in the media and fashion industries. But the message always returns to the more centered approach of what is healthy. This is her platform.

“My message is simple,” she says. “Healthy is beautiful. And beautiful is not an age. It’s not a size. And it’s not a procedure. And it’s different for everybody.”

Dangerous Perceptions

Eating disorders are a serious business. Marked by the two most common disorders—anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa—eating disorders are through to affect somewhere close to 11 million individuals in the U.S. Despite perceptions that eating disorders are a lifestyle choice, the medical community acknowledges that they have a biological basis. The National Institute of Mental Health calls them “real, treatable medical illnesses with complex underlying psychological and biological causes.” Additionally, eating disorders are frequently present with other behavioral illnesses like depression, substance abuse or anxiety disorders. Yet eating disorders are often an issue that is brushed aside.

“There’s been a stigma to eating disorders and a lack of understanding,” says Lynn Grefe, CEO of NEDA, who compares the hushed tones surrounding eating disorders today to a similar quietude that encased AIDS two decades ago and breast cancer before that. These disorders carry considerable burden; consider that:

• In the population of women aged 15-19, the rates of anorexia have risen in every decade since 1930.
• Anorexia has the highest death rate of any mental illness.
• Eating disorders most often appear during adolescence or young adulthood, but evidence shows they can develop during childhood.
• Eighty percent of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat.
• From 1999-2005, in the most recent numbers available, hospitalizations for eating disorders rose 18 percent. Among men, hospitalizations have risen roughly 35 percent in that time.

According to Grefe, certain individuals are born with a “biological vulnerability” for eating disorders, much like many other behavioral illnesses. “You’re born with the gun and life pulls the trigger,” she says.

Body image is an enormous aspect of eating disorders, as nebulous as the term may be. Yet it is common thought that adolescents, especially girls, struggle with perceptions of body image. This struggle is not allayed by the presentation of women in the media in trendsetting fashion industries. According to NEDA, the average model is 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs 117 pounds. The average American woman? Five feet 4 inches, 140 pounds. And that doesn’t broach modifying techniques like airbrushing.

“We’re striving for something that we think is perfect in our minds,” says Thompson, “that is absolutely unattainable.”

This is part of her platform when speaking to her peers and adolescents. As a model, her words take on additional meaning. And it helps that Thompson herself, a bona fide supermodel, knows what her younger audiences are going through. “I think that everybody struggles with body image,” she says. “I’ve definitely dealt with body image issues.”

A New Outlook

February 2010 was an important month for eating disorders and their potential launch into the public consciousness. In the same month that NEDA joined forces with Thompson, the organization also launched an awareness campaign with the theme “It’s Time To Talk About It” during the national eating disorders awareness week. At the same time, the White House launched its “Let’s Move” campaign, directed by First Lady Michelle Obama, as a first step toward ameliorating the growing concern about childhood obesity.

This campaign would have an impact on the realm of eating disorders three months later when its plan of action was presented to the public. In it, the task force advised that parents “should be sensitive to the risk of eating disorders among young people” when talking to their children about obesity.

NEDA calls this a “tremendous accomplishment,” and it bears importance in two ways. First, it grants credence to eating disorders in a very general way. And second, its cautionary tone speaks to an area that NEDA sees as a powerful contributing factor and essential area of address—the role of preconceived ideals and a focus on a health lifestyle.

“We understand that obesity is a problem,” says Grefe, “but if you start putting everyone on a diet you’re just going to see more people come into our side of the corner. We want to promote health not how we look.”

The message dovetails with the mission and substance—the essence—of Thompson, which is more than a comely exterior. “I couldn’t be just a model,” she says. “I really like to be one on one with people. I think it’s incredibly beneficial to talk to them face to face. It’s very rewarding.”