In celebrity interviews, sometimes questions are pre-approved — but often celebs are hearing them for the first time. Sometimes, a reporter crosses a line, and the celeb either plays it off, calls them out, or refuses to answer.
Here are 17 times celebs were cruelly asked inappropriate questions about their bodies and how they responded:
1. In 2016, W magazine asked Anya Taylor-Joy, "You have those beautiful eyes and they're so far apart. When you were a kid, did they make you self conscious?"
She replied, "I can definitely remember when Facebook was a thing, and I was never aware that my eyes were far apart, and then someone tagged me in a picture with a fish, and they were like, 'This is you 'cause your eyes are like here.' And I was really upset about it, and I didn't enjoy it, and I kind of stopped looking in mirrors for a very long time. I still don't really spend a lot of time in front of mirrors because I don't really have to deal with my face. Unfortunately, y'all do."
2. In a 2011 60 Minutes interview, Anderson Cooper asked Lady Gaga about a rumor she "had a male appendage."
You can watch the full clip below:
remember when everybody thought @ladygaga had a penis and instead of denying this she just said this
3. While Anne Hathaway was promoting One Day, Chris Van Vliet asked about her fitness routine for her upcoming role as Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises. Then, he steered the conversation toward her weight.
You can watch the full clip below:
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4. Similarly, Extra's Jerry Penacoli also asked Anne Hathaway about having to make sure she was in "perfect shape" to play Catwoman — and she turned it around on him.
Here's the full interview:
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5. In 2019, Jason Momoa's vacation pictures went viral, and many internet users body-shamed him for no longer having the same level of ab definition he had in Aquaman. A few weeks later, TMZ asked him, "Did that offend you, when people said you had a dad bod?"
Shaking his head, Momoa simply replied, "No, not at all."
6. In 2002, Anna Nicole Smith appeared on The Howard Stern Show, and the host and his coworkers tried to bet on her weight. Stern also grossly tried to convince her to weigh herself live on air.
Here is the full interview, with this part beginning around the 24:10 mark:
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7. On a 1975 episode of his talk show, Parkinson, Michael Parkinson asked Helen Mirren if she thought her "equipment" hindered her pursuit of being a "serious actor."
You can see the full interview below:
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8. In 2012, Sun-Herald fashion editor Kate Waterhouse asked Christina Hendricks to tell a story about how she "inspired" someone as a "full-figured" woman. Hendricks declined to answer twice, and off-camera, she said, "I think calling me full-figured is just rude."
9. During a 2014 press conference, Jonah Hill shut down a local radio show's question about his personal decision to lose weight.
You can watch the full video below, with this moment starting at the 0:15 mark:
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10. In a 2002 interview for ABC News, Whitney Houston told Diane Sawyer that she struggled with eating while under stress. Immediately after, Sawyer pushed to know about her weight.
You can watch the full clip below, with this portion starting at the 2:15 mark:
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11. In 2014, Power 106 Los Angeles asked Ariana Grande if her feet smell because she "dance[s] a lot."
Here's the full interview:
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12. In 2015, Katie Couric asked Carmen Carrera several increasingly invasive questions about her transition until the model finally had to cut her off.
Here's the full interview:
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13. During the Titanic press tour surrounding the movie's 1997 release, several journalists asked Kate Winslet about fan speculation that she was "too fat" for both her character, Rose, and Leonardo DiCaprio's character, Jack, to both get on the floating door and survive at the end of the film.
Reflecting on the Happy Sad Confused podcast in 2022, she said, "If I could turn back the clock, I would've used my voice in a completely different way. I would have absolutely said to journalists, I would have responded, I would have said, 'Don’t you dare treat me like this. I'm a young woman, my body is changing, I'm figuring it out, I'm deeply insecure, I'm terrified, don't make this any harder than it already is.' That's bullying, you know, and actually borderline abusive, I would say."
14. When Oprah brought up rumors that they had eating disorders during a 2004 interview, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen told her that they tried "not to read the good or the bad" things people wrote about them. Then, Oprah steered the conversation toward their clothing sizes.
Here's the full interview, with this part starting around the 18:00 mark:
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15. During a 2014 interview with DJ Khaled, Larry King redirected the conversation from the producer's aspirations to his weight.
Here's the full interview, with this part starting at the 18:40 mark:
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16. While promoting Our Souls at Night on Today, Jane Fonda called out Megyn Kelly for asking an off-topic question about her decision to have cosmetic work done. Then, she redirected the conversation to the movie.
Watch the full interview below, with this moment starting at the 1:30 mark:
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17. And finally, in 1981, Barbara Walters asked then-15-year-old Brooke Shields (whose mom sat beside her for the duration of the interview) several invasive questions about her body and her sexual history, which the actor demurely answered.
Here's a clip from the interview:
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However, reflecting on the infamous interview in 2021, Shields told the Armchair Expert podcast, "It's practically criminal. It's not journalism."
