Politics
Oprah Winfrey slammed for ‘triggering’ 17-year-old Olsen twins in 2004 interview questioning ‘what size’ tiny teens wear
FANS are slamming talk show host Oprah Winfrey after a 2004 video resurfaced of her asking Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, then 17, about their body sizes.
Upset viewers called the interview “triggering” and said she completely blindsided the famous twins.
A resurfaced Oprah Winfrey interview with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen has fans angered[/caption]
Mary-Kate and Ashley, 34, have been in the public eye since they started playing the role of Michelle Tanner on Full House as babies.
They continued acting together in a slew of TV shows and movies in the years after the sitcom ended, and they had their theatrical release, New York Minute, come out around the time of the Oprah interview.
At 17, the two sat down with Oprah amid rumors that they were struggling with eating disorders, and she asked them about them up front.
She questioned: “I know a new rumor [that has] recently surfaced has really upset you, right? You know, the one about eating.”
Viewers slammed the host for asking the then-teens about their clothing sizes[/caption]
The Olsen twins started in the entertainment industry when they were just babies on Full House[/caption]
The speculation was mainly regarding Mary-Kate, and her sister Ashley decided to jump in to answer the question for both of them.
The actress, who has now gone on to build a massive fashion empire with her sister, replied: “Yeah, you know people are going to write what they’re going to write.
“We try not to read the good or the bad because it just comes with the territory.”
Ashley continued, “Either you’re too fat, too skinny and people are just gonna write what they –,” before she was cut off by Oprah who outright asked the teens: “What size are you, by the way?”
The 2004 interview came as rumors swirled that the twins were battling eating disorders[/caption]
Oprah asked them about the rumors point blank before then asking about their sizes[/caption]
Confused by what she was asking, the Olsen twins exchanged a glance before Ashley asked for clarification, “Size?”
They decide not to give Oprah an precise answer, with Mary-Kate only jumping in to say that they’d always been “petite.”
Unhappy with the response, the host sarcastically told the “that’s so interesting,” before adding: “I’m obsessed with size and you’re like, “I really don’t know!”
After trying to just brush it off and go with it, Mary-Kate hit back: “If we were obsessed with our size it’d be, I don’t know, a different story.”
Fans said it was extremely ‘triggering’ and clearly made the twins ‘uncomfortable’[/caption]
Later that year, Mary-Kate entered rehab[/caption]
After the old interview with the now-reclusive 34-year-olds resurfaced, fans blasted Oprah for asking such a personal question and for making the stars “uncomfortable.”
One upset viewer wrote: “The Olsens keep such a cheery smiley warm and inviting presence and they maintain their positive vibes despite Oprah continuously and obviously disrespecting and trying to trigger them!”
Another asked: “’I know we’re living in different times, but how did they think that was okay!?! [Because] they’re young?”
A third said: “I can’t imagine being blindsided on live TV about my body size (as an adult, never mind at 17!) when it’s publicly suspected I have an eating disorder (a.k.a. a severe and deadly mental illness).
She completed six weeks of treatment for her battle with anorexia[/caption]
The upset over Oprah’s resurfaced video comes after fans watched the Framing Britney Spears documentary and blasted Diane Sawyer for making Britney cry in an old interview about Justin Timberlake[/caption]
They added: “That was a real s**t thing to do @Oprah.”
Fans were upset that she would ask them about their clothing sizes, in general, but especially when she knew they were rumored to have an eating disorder.
Later that year, Mary-Kate did end up checking into rehab, seeking treatment for her battle with anorexia.
She spent six weeks at the facility during that summer and was released in July 2004.
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The resurfaced video comes as fans are re-examining the way female celebrities were treated in the 2000s after watching the new Britney Spears documentary, Framing Britney Spears.
The documentary looked back at many of the ups and downs in Britney’s life, which made a now infamous Diane Sawyer interview with her in 2003 resurfaced.
The chat left the singer in tears after the interview, in which Diane dug into her about her break-up with Justin Timberlake, and fans slammed the journalist for the questions and comments she made.
