Alexa Ray Joel (Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley's daughter) is speaking out against celebrity bashing bloggers like Perez Hilton, who send out a negative message to the public about body image and self esteem. Alexa vented on her MySpace blog about how damaging people like Perez can be, especially for young kids. Alexa is beautiful inside and out,and the picture above proves it as well as her open letter to those accessing her MySpace page seen below:
"I've got to get away from this computer! I know it's ridiculous, and I should have a thicker skin by now and just plain NOT CARE, but I can't help but be a little bummed out because the incredibly cruel, bullying Perez Hilton (this tabloid guy who calls himself the "queen of media") just put up a horrible picture of me on his site and basically in so many words called me ugly, or rather, wrote that I'm "not that bad, actually, I'm just no supermodel"...
I just feel like saying: "YES, my mom and I look completely different, and I'm OK with that. I like that I look unique, or more "exotic"--I don't want to look like everybody else, and I also don't want to look like a supermodel--I just want to look like ME!" (sorry if this sounds like a repeat of my last blog, but I just have to VENT)...
Oh well, I guess that's a part of the crap that comes with the industry--those sites LOVE putting bad pictures up, and everybody has a few unflattering shots--especially on the red-carpet! I'm still not comfortable posing on it, and (who knows?) maybe I never will be, but I'm just so OVER being compared to my mom looks-wise! I'm happy to have a lot of my father's features (especially his eyes and lips)--I think he's very handsome, and I'm quite sick of hearing people call HIM ugly--I think he has a very soulful face--the face of someone with character and integrity--who has LIVED, and has something important to say.
I just can't help but wonder these days: why does the media's idea of beauty have to always fit inside such a conventional box? Why doesn't the media promote any sense of individuality and open-mindedness? My boyfriend always tells me how much he loves my dimples and how I have a "cute over-bite" when I smile, as well as this scar on my chest that I used to be self-conscious about-- he calls it my "sexy mark", (yes--he's a keeper!!)-- so if these imperfections are what our partners end up growing to love so much about us, why isn't this celebrated as a natural, human truth? Why is it hidden, and replaced with this false truth that everybody's supposed to aspire to look like a "supermodel" (whatever looking like a super-model entails--I have no clue). When my mom saw that Perez Hilton thing, she was like, "OK, what's his point?--I have hundreds of bad pictures taken of me, and I'm a supermodel! Should I release them to the media so everyone can see that NOBODY is perfect?" (I love her for that).
It's just rather depressing on a larger, societal level because apparently his tabloid site gets an average of 6 million hits a day (internationally), and I just feel like--WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THIS WORLD? Why would 6 MILLION PEOPLE be on a site that does nothing but exploit, objectify, ridicule, and degrade public figures for no reason? Oh well, I know I shouldn't care--I guess I'm just a bit of an idealist and I wish the media wasn't so shallow and affected. It's like, why do these people get such a high out of bringing others down for no real reason?I must say, I think this Perez Hilton guy is quite dangerous because has actually made a BUSINESS out of calling people "fat, ugly whores!" Why is this? Is it because the general public has somehow become so obsessed with the media that it is entirely acceptable to trash public figures (and their children) and call them all sorts of names JUST FOR THE HECK OF IT? I mean, there was even some blogger on there picking a part the appearance of my 8 year-old sister--it made me sick to my stomach to see that. She's just a little girl--and she's my adorable, beautiful little sister! I cried my eyes out when I saw that, I was so disgusted.
Sorry, I don't mean to get preachy on you guys--I guess I'm just venting. I also wanted to get all of this out there because I don't think there's a lot of people inside of the media who talk openly about it's artificiality, and really question why this is happening, and I think it's about time we started. Because the media really is in a terrible place right now, and I truly feel like the more tabloid magazines we buy, and the more tabloid sites we blog on, the more we are feeding into this dangerous obsession with the media that is spiraling out of control."
-Alexa Ray Joel on her MySpace blog
