Popstars Dua Lipa and Tate McRae targeted by trolls in disturbing ‘heroin chic’ trend

Healthy popstars like Dua Lipa and Tate McRae have been abused by online trolls who are at the centre of a disturbing online “SkinnyTok” trend. The two singers have been the target of online abuse on social media for their healthy, strong and athletic figures. It started when an X user accused Lipa of gaining weight after her Italian honeymoon. “After marrying her husband Callum Turner, singer Dua Lipa – who had been on her honeymoon for a while – was spotted in New York looking like she’d gained some weight upon returning from her honeymoon,” the post read. A writer from Evie Magazine found the post and took to Instagram to share her fury at the comments. “Severely underweight and malnourished Ozempic bodies are becoming so normalised and glamorised that they are calling Dua Lipa fat,” she said. “Are we for real? She looks healthy, she looks beautiful and vibrant. She looks like she has energy … she has what is something that is not visible in a lot of these malnourished bodies and that is vitality.” Fans responded to the video with overwhelming support. “It must be wild for you to finally see a normal and healthy body in the era of thinness and ozempic obsessed celebrities. Hope you heal soon,” one comment addressing the original tweet said. This isn’t the first time a healthy woman in the limelight has been attacked for their weight. Popstar and professional dancer Tate McRae, 23, was also called “fat” after videos of her dancing on stage appeared online. Mobility and strength trainer Rebecca Stewart called the claims “categorically false” while flicking through images of the multi-hyphenate’s abs. “She’s standing here with visible abs and you’re calling her fat?” Ms Stewart said. “If you think this is fat, you need to touch grass, literally get off your phone, turn off the screen and go look at a normal person in society.” Ms Stewart likened the shaming to when Britney Spears was called fat at her 2007 VMA performance. “We’ve gotten back to this ‘thin is in heroin chic’,” she said. Eating Disorders Families Australia executive director Jane Rowan said these types of social media trends could result in “horrific consequences”. “Weight stigma online doesn’t just hurt people’s feelings, it has a profound consequences for mental health and eating disorder risk,” she said. “It can certainly lead to horrific consequences if they start to view themselves in a different way, and it can certainly lead to disordered eating, and it doesn’t take long for that to tip into an eating disorder.” Eating disorder / mental health helplines She explained that this online narrative “shifts the way that people are valued”, with creatives being viewed for their appearance instead of their musicality. “That is a really damaging message for young people because they start to question what it is that they are valued for,” Ms Rowan said. She urged social media users and specifically parents of kids and teens online to be careful of what we are consuming. “I think the biggest problem we have is the way the algorithm works and the way social media works, young people are fed a constant stream of the same messages,” Ms Rowan said. “Young people are in a very vulnerable stage … social media restrictions are so important for this reason.”