Rachael Leigh Cook against air brushing, calls it false advertising
Rachael Leigh Cook is against airbrushing, and editorializing images of models and celebrities. Cook, 31, addressed the entertainment industry's long-standing issue at a Washington summit last week when she joined The Creative Coalition, Girl Scouts of USA and Geena Davis in her new advocacy.
Cook told FoxNews.com, "I did not grow up getting told about how manipulated the images we see of women and girls out there are, and I think it's an absolute travesty that young women are seeing what the media is feeding them."
"It breaks my heart to be part of an industry and part of a machine that really pushes out these images and propagates these really terrible standards that are false."
The actress also shared her struggle with body-image issues after her first film The Baby-Sitters Club, when she was 15.
"I remember gaining quite a bit of weight on the first movie that I worked on because, 'hey, free food!'"
"You're at that stage where your body is just changing so actively, so it was a natural change, but I remember finishing that film and realizing that I had gained probably 10 pounds over the course of filming which is a lot when you're only 5'2."
Cook, who starred in the 1999's smash hit She's All That, said she knew then that she just needed to try and be healthy.
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"I went too far in the other direction and I worried my parents for a while, I think it's fair to say. I think that it's something that many, many teenage girls go through, especially ones that are achievers and ambitious."
"You're looking for a sense of control, and when you're in a really transitional phase in your teenage years, I think it's a pretty normal reaction to develop food issues."
The Hollywood actress further called editorializing images of celebrities and models, as false advertising and questioned why such industry practices are not considered a crime.