Body Gossip <bodygossip>

"Real Stories about Real Bodies"

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The Beeb dahling...262 Tage her
 
So, I've been ill (cough). So ill I've not managed to Body Gossip for FOUR DAYS. This is unusual, and disturbing, seeing as there are now LESS THAN 3 WEEKS TO GO before The Big Kick Off aka. Body Gossip no.1 at The Hub, N1 (buy your tickets at www.bodygossip.eventbrite.com!)

Illness made worse with the worry that I wouldn't be able to speak during my BBC Radio interview today on the Charlie Crocker show on BBC Radio Solent.

But, I can report with great relief that I did the interview today, from a little room in London with a red microphone (with pen all over it, very odd) - and somehow, thanks to amazing technology, it sounded like I was in a studio in Hampshire! How clever.

The interview was over very quickly so now I'm left with that odd feeling of 'Did I say everything I needed to?', and perhaps more importantly 'Did I sound like an idiot?'

Now I'm off to use my new-found health and Body Gossip like billio.

I'll post the link to the interview when they podcast it. Then you can tell me whether or not I really did sound like an idiot...!

Love,

Ruth x
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The House of Commons and the Daily Mail275 Tage her
 
SO yesterday I was invited to the House of Commons to join Beat at the launch of Eating Disorders Awareness Week. I was joined by the beautiful Chloe Marshall, and the fantastic Emma-Jane Haigh, a Body Gossip Ambassador.

The focus of the event was a report by Beat highlighting the problems that exist in primary care when dealing with eating disorders. Out of 1500 sufferers of eating disorders, only 15% felt that their doctor really understood how to deal with their eating disorder. And we heard from 2 Beat ambassadors and their parents who told us that they visited doctors up to 10 times before the eating disorder was even diagnosed! These are scary findings, because there are so many people out there suffering from eating disorders, and they can't even get adequate (let alone quality) health care.

As you know I'm raising money and awareness for Beat, and so it was really great to be there as a representative of Body Gossip.

And I was joined by Chloe Marshall - the size 16 model who shot to fame last year when she was crowned Miss Surrey, and she came 2nd place in the Miss England final. She's performing one of the Body Gossip stories in the show on 29th March and she says she's really excited, but also a bit nervous!

I also met up with Emma-Jane Haigh, who is a strong supporter of both Beat and Body Gossip. Emma-Jane and I have spoken a lot about her own eating disorder, and how - now she has recovered - she is determined to speak up about the illness. I'm so glad she's supporting Body Gossip as she's a great speaker and incredibly passionate about celebrating realistic beauty.

As I write this I'm waiting to be interviewed by the Daily Mail - which is very exciting!

I do find it difficult though when talking about why I'm doing Body Gossip - although I had struggles as a teenager (as we all do, right?) it wasn't until I went to New York and studied film acting, aged 25, that I really felt pressurised to look a certain way. I've always loved food, and see exercise as a way that I can enjoy it more! But when I was in New York I did feel under pressure to lose weight - the first time I'd ever seriously felt that way since my paranoid teenage years.

It was while I was in New York that I became involved with a group of actors who wanted to create a project about body image. They had all suffered in varying degrees from eating disorders, and talking to them made me angry and frustrated - these gorgeous women (and I'm not sucking up to them, they really are gorgeous) who had felt so far away from the images of "perfection" that they had seen on the catwalks, in the mags, in the films – that they had starved themselves to try and emulate what they saw.

This made me so angry and frustrated that I came back to the UK and launched Body Gossip – to inspire people to shout about their bodies, until their stories are heard loud and clear.

The reason I find it difficult is that I’ve never felt what these women in New York – and how so many people in the UK , and all over the world – feel. And I worry that people might be annoyed or disillusioned that I haven’t experienced what they have. No, I haven’t. I’ve not had an eating disorder. But I became close to one in New York, and I know what it’s like to feel disgusted by the fat on my body. But then I got angry-and the result is Body Gossip!

Luckily I’m no longer angry – I’m hopeful, and excited, and inspired and moved. I’m looking forward to seeing Body Gossip grow and grow.

And for the first time in the last two and a half years, I have a feeling it just might grow… I think Body Gossip is getting there. And it’s a great feeling.
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Celebrity Cast List announced!282 Tage her
 
I am VERY excited to announce that the following amazing celebrities are confirmed in the cast for the first ever Body Gossip performance, on 29th March 2009 at The Hub, London:

Zaraah Abrahams
Donna-Leigh Bailey
Natalie Cassidy
Anne Diamond
Mikyla Dodd
Nikki Grahame
Shobna Gulati
Jen Hunter
Chloe Marshall

To buy tickets for Body Gossip, go to www.bodygossip.eventbrite.com

And follow me on Twitter - BodyGossipRuth!

Ruth x

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Follow Body Gossip on Twitter!283 Tage her
 
Want an insight into the life of a crazed Body Gossip?

Follow Ruth on Twitter as she counts down the days to the biggest night of her life - 29th March 2009, the first ever Body Gossip performance.

Find Ruth on Twitter - her name is BodyGossipRuth.

And hear about the celebrity updates, the highs and lows, the frustrations and joys of a busy Body Gossiper...

Ooh - and tickets for Body Gossip are now on sale, buy them here: www.bodygossip.eventbrite.com

And don't forget - keep sending your stories in, the Body Gossip National Writing Competition is STILL OPEN! Events will be happening all through 2009, and YOUR story about your BODY could be chosen to be performed by a CELEBRITY!

Love, Ruth x
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Body Gossip is GO - but the competition is STILL OPEN!!297 Tage her
 
The time has come - it's really happening. Body Gossip no.1 is GO! March 29th 2009 at The Hub in London. And Ruth is a very happy bunny (with the longest To Do list in the world...)

After 2 and a half years of plugging away, freezing on red carpets, cornering celebrities, long drives to Edinburgh, lugging a sofa across the country, cold calling celebrity agents, annoying celebrity agents, making friends with celebrity agents, visiting amazing schools, meeting incredibly generous people, and BEST OF ALL receiving HUNDREDS of real stories about real bodies written by YOU...

...after all that...

...Body Gossip is HAPPENING!

The 15 winners of Body Gossip no.1 are:

Athena Stevens - Sarah Wallace - Lisa Parry - Emily Holdsworth - Sophie McKenzie - Lynsey Bowes - Abigail Graham - Susan Hemming - Stephen Wall - Charlie Whitworth - Tracey Hammet - Megan Ford - Laura Nation - Aisling Bea - Delys Phillips

The celebrity cast list will be announced shortly - but it's VERY exciting!

The Competition is STILL OPEN - this is just the first Body Gossip event. There will be MORE so please keep writing your stories and sending them in - submit them in The Competition on the website.

And don't be a stranger - get in touch, write on our wall, tell your friends about Body Gossip - the show written by YOU about YOUR BODIES, celebrating REALISTIC BEAUTY!

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Update!461 Tage her
 
Hi everyone,

First of all, I'm so sorry I've gone a bit quiet recently - although I'm always thinking about Body Gossip, I also have to earn a living (yawn!) so I've been running around earning money!

And now I'm also trying to earn money, but not for me - I'm working to raise the money to make Body Gossip FAMOUS!! Next year I want to travel the country with my sofas, getting YOUR thoughts about your bodies - and then hire a West End theatre, get your favourite celebrities, and PUT ON A PLAY ABOUT BODY IMAGE!

But it's an expensive plan, so I'm getting together the money I need so I can do it.

So please don't think I've forgotten you - Body Gossip is ALWAYS on my mind.

I hope everyone's well and enjoying the summer - I'm going to the Notting Hill Carnival on Monday, can't wait!

Keep telling your friends about Body Gossip!

Love, Ruth x
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Size Zero is back - but Body Gossip attacks! JOIN THE REVOLUTION!531 Tage her
 
Today I read something that scared me to my (healthy and well-protected) bones.

"Size Zero is back."

After all the brilliant progress that we have seen recently - Size 16 model Chloe Marshall winning Miss Surrey and entering the Miss England finals in July (Go Chloe!), the work of the Model Healthy Inquiry and Beat (Eating Disorders Assn) at London Fashion Week, the Dove campaigns, the Nivea campaigns, Marks & Spencers introducing size 12 mannequins (bring on the size 14 as well!).

I thought people were beginning to wise up! I thought that FINALLY healthy, realistic beauty was being accepted, celebrated even.

But then you get Allison Pearson in the Daily Mail bitching about the beautiful, curvy, healthy Princess Beatrice. She's backed up by Julia Hartley Brewer on Richard & Judy. And now I read in the Observer (08.06.08) that the dreaded size zero is once again flaunting its bones, & I shiver at the thought of how many young people will suffer.

So I do the only thing I can do right now - shout about BODY GOSSIP.

Size Zero threatens the health of young people by portraying a devastatingly dangerous form of beauty - women and men with their bones poking out their shoulders, young girls who no longer have their periods, people who are fainting, losing their hair, even DYING.

BODY GOSSIP does the opposite. It celebrates the REAL stories about REAL people's BODIES- the beautiful bumps, the cute curves, the marvelous man boobs and the brilliant bums!

If Size Zero is BACK - then Body Gossip needs to get BIGGER!

Go to www.bodygossip.org and get involved in this extraordinary campaign! Write your story about your body, tell your friends, write on my Bebo page.

LET'S START A BODY REVOLUTION!
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Princess Beatrice's bottom...555 Tage her
 
OK OK I know she's royalty, but I think I'm allowed to talk about Princess Beatrice's bottom for just a second, seeing as journalist Allison Pearson and Julia Hartley Brewer seem so obsessed with it.

Am I allowed to get damn angry for a minute?

Allison Pearson wrote in the Daily Mail that Princess Beatrice should wear a sarong, rather than show off her beautiful curves in a bikini.

WHAT?? How dare this journalist publically slag off a 19 year old young woman who has a NORMAL body.

She's not only unfairly criticising Princess Beatrice. She's also giving a damn right DAMAGING and CRUEL message to young people everywhere - she's suggesting that curves are wrong and that we should all starve ourselves.

I'd go so far as to say that people like Allison Pearson are contributing to the rise of eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia. She's causing young people all over the world to starve themselves to death in persuit of "perfection".

But what is this "perfection"? Forcing their bodies into a shape that isn't natural for them? To me, Princess Beatrice looks like a healthy, beautiful woman - and for that I celebrate her, because she's being REAL.

Did you know that if a woman had the dimensions of a shop mannequin, she wouldn't menstruate.

Is this what you want Allison Pearson? If I could meet that woman, I'd tell her that everyone has a natural, healthy body shape. Princess Beatrice has hers, I have mine, you have yours. If we're healthy, eat well and exercise in moderation, we'll see our healthy, natural body looking at us in the mirror.

And it's bloody hideous that an ignorant journalist, out to sell her column, is willing to criticise Beatrice's natural, healthy body - she's only perpetuating a problem that's already killing too many young people.

You want my advice? Love your NATURAL body. It's yours, and it's up to you how long you live with it - starve yourself to keep Allison Pearson happy, and you won't be around for long.

Love, a very angry Ruth x
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It's aint over til it's over...582 Tage her
 
Hey, a lot of you are asking if the Body Gossip competition is still going - YES it is! The Bebo competition is over, and 5 winners will be announced VERY SOON.

BUT! We're still looking for 15 MORE STORIES!!!

SO if you missed the Bebo competition, don't despair! Go to www.bodygossip.org/competition and you can enter your story there.

At the moment, there is no official deadline.

Looking forward to hearing more of your stories!

Love, Ruth x
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Ruth gets interviewed for HealthZone.tv!587 Tage her
 
If you go to www.healthzone.tv, click on the Apple, and look for the Body Gossip video - you'll see Ruth getting interviewed at the Vitality Show!

PS I'm getting replies from my judges, so soon the winners are going to be announced - EXCITING!

Love, Ruth x
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