Kate Hudson Wins Libel Award After Being Called Skinny

James Joyner @ Gone Hollywood | Thursday, July 20, 2006

Kate Hudson is just the right weight, according to a British court:

Kate Hudson has accepted libel damages from a supermarket tabloid that claimed she was dangerously thin, her lawyer said Thursday. The British edition of the National Enquirer has agreed to pay undisclosed damages and print an apology for an October 2005 article that claimed Hudson was “way too thin” and looked “like skin and bones,” said Simon Smith, a lawyer for the 27-year-old actress.

Now, Hudson looks perfectly healthy to me. But how does one demonstrate that one does not look “like skin and bones” or is not in fact “way too thin”? Aren’t such things matters of opinion rather than fact?

And how injurious, really, is it for a Hollywood actress to be considered skinny? Kate Moss seems to be making a fabulous living at it, as did Twiggy and countless other other supermodels. And Calista Flockhart is marrying Harrison Ford.

This, on the otherhand, is more problematic:

The article — accompanied by a photo of a gaunt-looking Hudson — claimed her mother, Goldie Hawn, planned to confront her about her weight. Both Hudson and Hawn denied the claim. Smith said Hudson lost weight to get in shape for a film after giving birth to her son, Ryder, in January 2004. He said she took legal action over the magazine’s suggestion she had “recklessly and foolishly endangered her health” by failing to eat.

These are, I suppose, matters of fact. But the claim that one’s mother was worried about one’s weight, while perhaps falsifiable, is hardly something one would think would entitle one to damages.

Kate Hudson Wins Libel Award After Being Called Skinny

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