19 Times Your Favorite TV Leading Ladies Taught You To Love Your Body

“The earlier you learn that you should focus on what you have, and not obsess about what you don’t have, the happier you will be.” —Amy Poehler

1. When Tina Fey called out the absurdity of modern beauty standards:

Via larry-gergich.tumblr.com

"Every girl is expected to have Caucasian blue eyes, full Spanish lips, a classic button nose, hairless Asian skin with a California tan, a Jamaican dance hall ass, long Swedish legs, small Japanese feet, the abs of a lesbian gym owner, the hips of a nine-year-old boy, the arms of Michelle Obama and doll tits." —From Bossy Pants

2. When Mindy showed her true power:

Via kalingly.tumblr.com

"I always get asked, ‘Where do you get your confidence?' I think people are well meaning, but it’s pretty insulting. Because what it means to me is, ‘You, Mindy Kaling, have all the trappings of a very marginalized person. You’re not skinny, you’re not white, you’re a woman. Why on earth would you feel like you’re worth anything?’” —From Parade magazine

3. When Amy Poehler gave A+ advice:

Via bustle.com

“The earlier you learn that you should focus on what you have, and not obsess about what you don’t have, the happier you will be.” —From Glamour

4. When Kerry Washington said this:

Via kerrymwashington.tumblr.com

5. And, oh yeah, this:

Via kerrymwashington.tumblr.com

6. When Oprah opened up:

Via entertainmenttonight.tumblr.com

"I've given up scale-watching — letting a number determine how I see myself and whether I'm worthy of a good day." —From O, The Oprah Magazine

7. When Rashida Jones got real:

Via amypoehler.tumblr.com

"Your looks are constantly depreciating, so why invest any unnecessary worry into them?" —From Health.com

8. When Tina Fey talked about the influence of family:

Via americanexpress.tumblr.com

"My dad is an artist — a painter by hobby — and I constantly would see realistic nudes. Because we were raised around art and went to museums and the women I grew up around were curvy ... there wasn’t this value on skinny, skinny, skinny. Curvy was clearly meant to be the winner. I go up and down a few pounds with a relative amount of kindness to myself. And I have a daughter, and I don’t want her to waste her time on all of that.” —From Vogue

9. When Christina Hendricks revealed her secrets:

Via swedishfishrule.tumblr.com

"I've always been fit, I've always been active, and I've always been healthy, but I've just tried to live my life the way I live it. It's nice that I've gotten a lot of positive feedback about it lately, but I'm just doing what I normally do." —From WebMD

10. When Amy Poehler revealed the bad (and good) news:

Via blergger.tumblr.com

"The voice that talks badly to you is a demon voice. This very patient and determined demon shows up in your bedroom one day and refuses to leave. You are 6 or 12 or 15, and you look in the mirror, and you hear a voice so awful and mean it takes your breath away. It tells you that you are fat and ugly and you don’t deserve love. It sounds like a strangled and seductive version of you. Think Darth Vader or an angry Lauren Bacall. The good news is there are ways to make it stop talking. The bad news is it never goes away." —From Yes, Please

11. When America Ferrera doled out some solid advice:

Via america-ferrera-fan.tumblr.com

"Take your time and your talent and figure out what you have to contribute to this world. And get over what the hell your butt looks like in those jeans!" From US Weekly

12. When Tina Fey and Amy Poehler called out the very industry they're a part of:

Via stewarter.tumblr.com

13. When Amy Schumer got serious about body image:

Via bricesander.tumblr.com

"I am a woman with thoughts and questions and shit to say. I say if I'm beautiful. I say if I'm strong. You will not determine my story — I will. I will speak and share and fuck and love and I will never apologize to the frightened millions who resent that they never had it in them to do it. I stand here and I am amazing, for you. Not because of you. I am not who I sleep with. I am not my weight. I am not my mother. I am myself." —From the 2014 Gloria Awards

14. When Chelsea Peretti called out the idiots of the world:

Via stand-up-comic-gifs.tumblr.com

15. And when Mindy did the same:

Via huffingtonpost.tumblr.com

16. When Lena Dunham talked about the impact of media:

Via huffingtonpost.tumblr.com

"I spend a lot of my career trying to break down the negative forces that the media exerts on women in trying to control their body image, so for me it’s all very sort of anathema to who I am to admit that I too have struggled with the concept of perfection.” —From ABC News

17. When Uzo Aduba learned to embrace her smile:

Via winchestersarrow.tumblr.com

"I kept hiding my smile in pictures throughout middle school and most of high school until picture day came my senior year. The photographer had me laughing during camera breaks, but when we'd go back to shooting, my mouth resumed its usual position.

'Why do you smile like that in pictures?' he asked. (How much time did this guy have for therapy?)

'I hate the gap in my teeth,' I explained.

He paused, fixing a few things on his camera and said, 'Really? I think you have a beautiful smile,' and went back to shooting.

I'll never forget that moment. It's amazing how years of hearing the same response from family and friends constantly had fallen on deaf ears. But right then, I heard it and felt beautiful. A professional photographer with a fancy camera had complimented me on my smile. Gap and all." —From Cosmopolitan

18. When Ellen broke it down:

Via thellendegeneresanon.tumblr.com

19. And when Mindy said it best:

soniaknope.tumblr.com