Tracee Ellis Ross Shows Us What Healthy Body Image Looks Like

Photo credit: Tracee’s Instagram

Tracee Ellis Ross, star of ABC hit show black-ish, gave an interview to People Magazine during my holiday hiatus, and I wanted to make sure I didn’t forget to share this with you!

“I’ve always been connected to the narrative of clothing,” she says. “My mom taught me that you can spend money on nice things if you’re going to use them. For example, I have an Alexander McQueen jacket that I wear with everything, even sweatpants.”

One of the things she has also learned over the years is stop obsessing over her size.

“You know, I am not a sample size,” she says. “I am not a model size. I am small for people and big for an actress. My weight fluctuates a lot and I move with it. It is what it is. That’s why I try not to have a relationship with the size that I am.” 

And she deals with the change in her own unique way. “I actually own my favorite jeans in three sizes—28, 29 and 30,” she explains.

“Depending on how I feel, I always start with the big ones and if I get to go down, great,” she says. “It’s the same thing with dresses and clothing. I want to wear something that makes me feel gorgeous, not that makes me feel self-conscious about my body. Hiding insecurities or putting attention on the stuff that feels good is really the key.” 

Color helps her do that as well. “I think I am a very colorful person,” she says. “And I am certainly not afraid of color. I think a lot of colors look good on my skin tone. I can look very severe when I wear black but there is a lightness that comes through me when I wear color.” [source]

Focusing more on creating an image in the mirror that makes you feel good is awesome! It puts your thoughts and feelings in the center, instead of leaving you to fixate on fitting into a standard that wasn’t built to accommodate you, your needs, or your feelings.

A photo posted by Tracee Ellis Ross (@traceeellisross) on Dec 29, 2016 at 9:09am PST

Also, she points out something I learned a long time ago—no matter how attached I might be to wearing a certain number size, chances are high I might actually look better going a size up. Things don’t pinch, wrinkle, fold, or tuck in weird ways if I get the size up. It’s easier to embrace that if you avoid getting attached to any particular size.

Also worth noting? Tracee is good for sharing her sweaty selfies on her Instagram, so she’s also showing a way to be active and fit without it being the kind of obsessive language we often get from celebrities.

I think Tracee might’ve stolen my heart on this one. Swooooooon.