A lot of words can be used to describe Gwen Stefani, but "chunky" has certainly never been one of them.
A number of Twitter users were concerned that Stefani used the word to describe herself in a throwback photo from 1983. The singer posted the snapshot along with the comment to Twitter on Sunday (Feb. 2). She's dressed in a yellow sweater and baggy shorts, getting an autograph from rocker Sting.
People tweeted to the 44-year-old in response to the remark, which some considered "body-shaming."
While Stefani's tweet disappointed some, Yahoo! Shine writer Elise Solé noted that there could be more to it.
"On the flipside, it's hard not to feel an ounce of compassion for Stefani, who inadvertently tweeted her body baggage to millions," Solé wrote. "Clearly, Stefani looks at an old photo of herself and sees a very different person from the one we see. It's a window into the unreasonable body expectations that female celebrities face and, as a result, the self-scrutiny some of them may never overcome."
During an interview with MTV News in 1996, Stefani revealed she had dealt with body issues as a youngster.
"I was like a chubby girl, a chubby kid my whole life," she said when commenting about her exercise routine. "So that's something that I've always had to work on."
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