Boobs, butts, and belly skin ? just because you?re famous AND beautiful? does not mean you don?t stress about getting naked for the camera. Find out the secret thoughts and preparations of Kristen Bell, Jenna Dewan-Tatum, Minnie Driver and Nia Long before their nude photo-shoot for Allure magazine. ?
Usually seeing near-naked beautiful celebrities illicits a reaction of jealousy and harsh self-critiques. Studies have shown that the media?s portrayal of beauty ? thin, young, tight ? leads to lowered self-esteems of the average woman, as the regular woman feels like she can never compare to what is portrayed as ?beautiful?.
But, what about the beautiful women that is actually being photographed? Do they think they are beautiful? Do they think / realize that they are setting the physical standard for everyone else? Do they even work to look like that, or are they just genetically-blessed mutants?
In an extremely refreshing feature spread, Allure magazine photographed pictures of celebrated beautiful women; Kristen Bell, Nia Long, Jenna Dewan-Tatum and Minnie Driver, while they were about 98% naked. And then, Allure magazine asked them about the naked shoot, and what they did to prepare for nude photographs that the world was going to see.
Although all featured women are beautiful, their answers show that they are also real. Just like the women we all actually know, they worry about body parts changing with age, after-pregnancy body-image, boobs, butts, and working out.
Even though they might look perfect to us, celebrities are still human, and full of the same self-doubts and insecurities as us mere mortals.
Kristen Bell:
?I?m a big fan of bums. I?m very happy with the amount I?ve been given.?? But it?s not all sunshine and self-love. Her less favorite body parts? ?Before, my belly skin always made me self-concious, and it?s only gotten worse since I?ve had a baby? says the 33-year-old new mother. Pregnancy however turned out to be a pleasant surprise. ?I was frightened I would feel like a schlun, but I?ve never been so comfortable. When I looked in the mirror, I saw Cindy Crawford.?
Bell is also a pragmatist: ?I have happily used a body double. If you?re not feeling your best, you can trick the audience. It?s all smoke and mirrors anyway.?
So why strip for Allure one year about child-birth? ?I talk a big game about being comfortable in my skin,? says the actress. ?I wanted to put my money where my mouth was.?
Minnie Driver:
Driver credits her nationality for her particular photo-shoot preparation. ?I juiced significantly. I got a wax. You want to be neat and tidy in front people you don?t know when you?re naked, I think. But I?m British,? she says. Digging deeper, she reveals that her feelings about her naked body have evolved over the years. ?I never could have done this when I was 25. No way. All I saw were the flaws. I still see flaws, but I see what?s great more ? and I?ve got a banging body!? The 44-year-old actress (Return to Zero, About a Boy) and mother of five-year-old Henry relies on a varied work-out; participating in ballet, cardio barre, and surfing. Even so, there?s one body part that still makes her self-conscious.
?My boobs. I had a baby, and things do change quite a bit. I would rather go bottomless than topless at the beach ? you?ll never see that of course.? Still, in the end, ?I really love my body,? says Driver. ?It?s done amazing things for me.?
Jenna Dewan Tatum:
To say Jenna Dewan Tatum is comfortable with nudity is an understatement. ?I?m naked a lot,? she says. And it?s always been that way. ?It was hard to keep me in clothes even as a kid? ? even when nudity wasn?t part of the plan. ?I danced to Marky Mark?s ?Good Vibrations? at a dance recital, and danced so hard that the neck [of my costume] ripped, and I flashed the whole damn audience!?
Despite all that, stripping for the camera one year after the birth of her first child was a challenge for the 33-year-old star of Withces of East End. ?I hope I worked out just enough to be proud of these pictures,? she says.
As for her husband, Channing Tatum, she says ?Chan was really on board with it ? he knows I?m very comfortable in my own skin.?
Nia Long:
?Posing nude is probably the most uncomfortable thing ever, and not in a spiritual sense,? says the 43-year-old actress (The Divide, The Single Mom?s Club). That?s not to suggest Long is new to this; she bared all on the cover of Ebony magazine in 2011 while pregnant. Now, she says, ?I?m still going naked. I can still take it off two babies later. When you have kids, your body changes drastically, and we have to learn to appreciate ourselves as we are. My boobs are not the same as they were before; I?m not going to lie.?
Long prepared for her Allure shoot by running for 45 minutes on a treadmill, and she says the effort was worth it. ?The point is to capture the true essence of beauty in our most natural state, and that is nude.?
