Amanda Schull Quotes

As a dancer I've always checked my body constantly; 'Am I having a good day or am I having a fat day?'

I think the dance world is really hard, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to look a certain way, and so that was a battle that I had to figure out for myself.

Becoming the new feminine ideal requires just the right combination of insecurity, exercise, bulimia and surgery.

I used to refer to myself as a 'theoretical anorexic,' just as crazy when it came to body image, but saved by a lack of self-discipline. My daughters do everything better than I do - they're smarter, more beautiful, happier. What if they end up better at anorexia, too?

I was bulimic and anorexic for a while, just hating my body. As an actress, I was never thin enough, never pretty enough. My boobs weren't big enough.

What is this drive to be thinner, prettier, better dressed, other? Who exactly is this other and what does she look like beyond the jacket she's wearing or the food she's not eating? What might we be doing, thinking, feeling about if we didn't think about body image, ever?

I modelled in my 20s, and it was an obsessive time. I was under pressure to look a certain way.

I think I felt that I was very well known for my figure and needed to keep that up for my work. And I regret all of it. I felt fraudulent and very shameful.

I went to the Performing Arts School and studied classical ballet. That attitude is something that's put into your head. You are never thin enough.

Any people whose lives are about the way they look, whether it's fat or thin, are in a dangerous area.

We're very physical creatures, and we worry about how we look sometimes more than our spiritual selves.

Actresses can get outrageously precious about the way they look. That's not what life's about. If you starve yourself to the point where your brain cells shrivel, you will never do good work. And if you're overly conscious of your arms flapping in the wind, how can you look the other actor in the eye to respond to them?

I think it's important that models be healthy.

Body image is something that girls struggle with every day, and it's something that I struggle with every day.

I think sometimes what happens is that all of this feeling out of control manifests itself in trying to control your body; whether it's an eating disorder or talking about getting your nose fixed, as if that's going to be the solution to all the pressure.

I've been to a lot of photo shoots, and I see these girls that are just really thin. They're not healthy. They don't work out.

The pressure was if I didn't get into that dress size someone else would - someone else would get the job.

Nowadays, performers worry too much about how they look. They're not concerned about what they're really saying to their audience.

Dancers are kept in a perpetual state of pre-puberty, and for young girls in particular, that type of pressure breeds insecurities.

The waist is a terrible thing to mind.

I was my thinnest when doing 35 fashion shows a week in different countries because I didn't have time to eat. I've never bought the idea that models in fashion magazines cause readers to have anorexia and bulimia. And you can't be a model if you've got those conditions anyway, because you'll get acne and hair all over your body.

You'll probably find most models are incredibly insecure about their bodies.

Every role I've ever taken has never had anything do to with size. It's never been something I've wanted to be cheap about. Luckily, my agents and managers have always supported that.

I think as a dancer you are always wanting to look your best, like in an outfit, you want an outfit to look the best it can on you, meaning weight is a huge one for a lot of dancers… you are always wanting to look better, look thinner.

Because I have been bullied and attacked about my body, body image has always been an issue for me.