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For as long as I can remember Raven Symone has been on television. Whether it was “The Cosby Show,” “Hanging With Mr. Cooper,” or “That’s So Raven,” a lot of us can say that we grew up right alongside her.
Except while we were able to have acne flair ups, grow boobs, gain weight, look crazy and go through an awkward phase, most of Raven’s development was captured on somebody’s camera and aired on millions of tv screens.
And unfortunately with that exposure, came people’s comments.
With her new show, “Raven’s Home” she says that she wants to make sure the show sends a message of body positivity because it was sentiment she could have benefited from back in the day.
The 31-year-old told People, “I wish I was living now as a younger person. I probably wouldn’t have so many mental issues.”
Raven said that there were people who fat shamed her to her face, from the time she was just 7-years-old.
On “The View” she spoke about the pressure.
“It was definitely hard. I remember not being able to have the bagel or anything at – we would call it crafty, where it’s just a table of food, ready for you to eat whatever you want. And I remember people would be like, ‘You can’t eat that. You’re getting fat!’ I’m like, ‘I’m 7! I’m hungry!’ ”
And it continued afterward.
“[They said] I was too big to be doing an hour and a half concert. ‘I don’t know how she can dance being that big.’ And I was like, ‘I still did it!’ I was on tour forever because it’s not about your size, it’s about what you have to say, if you can sing or dance, and performing. It’s not about your size.”
As for the new show on the Disney Channel, she said, “I love embracing your body. In this day and age you have all kinds, and it’s funny, it’s serious, it’s every color, it’s every head shape, it’s every hair. And there’s androgyny, and there’s LGBT coming in, and it feels good. We didn’t have it enough last time and I guess that’s what the past is for — to make sure the present is what it needs to be.”
She continued speaking about the importance of diversity.
“The world is too big to have one sort of view to show beauty, because then you are literally destroying society,” she says. “You are literally destroying it. And then you want to talk about how we are judgmental to each other and this and this. But it’s being created in the industry that we’re in. So why not break the mold?”
