Actress Bruna Linzmeyer has sparked a debate about body-shaming and beauty standards after a tweet criticizing her transformation went viral.
The Brazilian superstar became known for her piercing blue eyes when she first appeared in the 2010 miniseries After All, What Do Women Want? on TV Globo, the country’s biggest network.
She went on to star in numerous prime time shows on the network, where she also earned praise for her talent and beauty.
Image credits: Earl Gibson III/GG/Penske Media/Getty Images
In 2022, Bruna stunned fans with a dramatic transformation: she chopped off her long brown locks and dyed both her hair and eyebrows yellow.
Making many of her male admirers even more outraged, a photo of the star with her arms raised revealed that she had decided to grow out her armpit hair.
Her transformation recently went viral after X user @JoaquinTeixeira contrasted an old photo of Bruna with long brown hair and a beauty queen-style look with the image of her embracing the no-makeup, yellow-haired aesthetic.
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“This here impacted me way too much,” Joaquin wrote in a post that has amassed 11,000 likes and more than 700,000 views.
The before-and-after post drew many hateful comments, with one man writing, “She tries so hard to be ugly. Today she has the face of someone who stinks.”
“When a person gets tired of being beautiful…” lamented another commenter.
Others linked the transformation to Bruna’s political views, writing, “Radical feminism is a disease.”
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Last September, the Pantanal actress and LGBTQ+ activist discussed her transformation and the criticism she has faced for not conforming to traditional standards of femininity.
“Beauty is a social construct, and I see it in women who don’t conform to the norm, with long hair or makeup,” she told Globo.
“I like to explore the possibilities of being. I have joy, a good quality of life, and comfort in my own body. If that’s uncomfortable for other people, is that my problem?”
Image credits: brunalinzmeyer/Instagram
The 33-year-old actress, who is a lesbian, said that she treats her s*xuality “with lightness and joy.”
Bruna shared that she reads the comments on her Instagram posts and tunes out the negative ones.
“I ask myself again, ‘Is it really my problem?’ The hate people feel says more about them than about me. I feel sorry for them.”
Image credits: brunalinzmeyer/Instagram
Asked about the forms of violence she has experienced, the star responded that she is not interested in portraying herself as a victim.
“Violence happens every day, but it’s exhausting to portray myself as a lesbian woman as something related to pain or overcoming adversity. I wonder why pain sells so much…There’s room for joy! I prefer to value the potential rather than the complications.”
Image credits: brunalinzmeyer/Instagram
Bruna further admitted that, throughout her career, she has had to conform to normative femininity to have more opportunities in the film and TV industries.
“I negotiate my presence as a woman who relates to others and the way I dress and want to be seen. It’s a balance, because I need money.” she stated.
“Normative femininity is connected to a commercial space, to visibility, and beauty is a social construct.”
Image credits: Colleen Sturtevant/WikiPortraits
Similarly, actress Olivia Wilde recently revealed that she regretted posing for the men’s magazine Maxim in 2009 after it named her the No. 1 woman on its Hot 100 list.
She also said she “self-objectified” earlier in her career because she wanted to feel accepted in the industry.
The conversation surrounding Bruna’s appearance also follows Margot Robbie’s revelation that a male co-star body-shamed her with a questionable gift.
In an interview with Complex, the Barbie actress shared that, early in her career, an unnamed actor unexpectedly gave her a weight-loss book.
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“A male actor, gave me a book called French Women Don’t Get Fat, and it was essentially a book telling you to eat less,” Margot recalled.
“He gave me a book to let me know that I should lose weight, and I was like, ‘Whoa, f**k you, dude.’”
Published by Mireille Guiliano in 2005, the book contained weight-loss tips such as eating only leek soup and “savoring every bite” to help people feel full.
Image credits: Prostock-studio/Adobe Stock (Not the actual photo)
Though celebrities often bring the conversation into the spotlight, body-shaming is an everyday reality for thousands of women.
According to a 2023 study by LinkedIn, 68% of women in the workplace have experienced some form of body-shaming, including comments about their clothes, weight, or appearance.
A study shared by the Obesity Action Coalition (OAC) found that women reported weight discrimination at lower levels of excess weight than men.
Moreover, the study found that women are up to 16 times more likely than men to perceive weight discrimination in employment settings.
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