Does J. Love's Weight Loss Make Her a Liar?

Aug. 18, 2008 — -- Eight months ago, when bloggers railed on paparazzi shots of her fleshy frame in a skimpy swimsuit, Jennifer Love Hewitt posted a call to arms on her Web site:

"What I should be doing is celebrating some of the best days of my life and my engagement to the man of my dreams, instead of having to deal with photographers taking invasive pictures from bad angles. … Like all women out there should, I love my body," wrote Hewitt, who shimmied around in her skivvies as a star of Hanes' ad campaign.

The blog followed a series of particularly nasty headlines, including TMZ.com's notorious "We know what you ate this summer, Love -- everything!" The Web site later apologized, and Hewitt used the jibes to inspire women to embrace their bodies, whatever the size.

"To all girls with butts, boobs, hips and a waist, put on a bikini -- put it on and stay strong," she wrote.

But now, the slimmed down "Ghost Whisperer" star is on the cover of Us Weekly, preening next to the headline "Jennifer Love Hewitt Exclusive: 18 lbs in Ten Weeks!"

Though she tells the magazine she lost weight to boost her energy level and not because of nasty comments on the Internet, she posed on the cover with her head high, her smile triumphant, her "butt and boobs" shrink-wrapped in a form-fitting dress. The headline beside her might as well read, "See? I'm Skinny Again. Just Try and Call Me a Fattie Now."

What's up with Hewitt bucking the weight loss bandwagon then jumping on it?

"It doesn't convey any sort of consistent message," said David Katz, director of Yale Medical School's Prevention Research Center. "One of the reasons to say 'I love the skin I'm in' is because you really do. Another reason is simply being defensive -- 'I don't want to fess up but I'm going to say I'm happy and I'm going to lose 18 pounds in three weeks as soon as I can.' I'm going to guess hers was the second reason."

"Her story doesn't make sense," Katz said. "If she had to lose weight to get her energy back, that means she wasn't OK with her weight back then. She didn't have enough energy."

It's not the first time a star has spoken out against the stick-thin Hollywood standard only to turn around and drop pounds.

Queen Latifah refused to conform to the Barbie-doll aesthetic when she migrated from the hip-hop realm into the mainstream entertainment industry. She rocked the red carpet as hard as starlets one-fourth her size and broke ground as a plus-size spokeswoman for Cover Girl cosmetics.

In November 2007 Latifah graced the cover of People magazine, grinning above the headline "200 Lbs and Loving It!" She told the magazine that at 5 feet, 10 inches tall, she weighed "in the 2's" and couldn't be happier. "I feel more comfortable with myself -- my sexuality, my mentality and my viewpoint," she said.

But two months later, in January 2008, she became the face of the Jenny Craig weight loss campaign.

"For me, it's not about a body image sort of thing. I feel pretty confident about who I am," she said at a news conference at the time. "But I do realize that I am a role model for a lot of people."