Jennifer Livingston

Many of you have had the pleasure of meeting one of my local news anchors, Jennifer Livingston. Monday morning when I dropped my kids off at school a friend asked if I had heard about the letter Jennifer had received from someone in the community commenting on her weight and it not making her a good role model. This letter led to a statement she broadcasted that very morning. My response was no I hadn’t, although in hindsight maybe I had seen the letter on her husband’s Facebook page…now I can’t remember if I had seen it before or after she told me about it. But I had not seen the news, so once I returned home I went online to find and watch it.

Her televised response to the letter (Watch it here) she received went viral. Not only did it flood Facebook and throughout the world. bbc.com had an article, People Magazine.com, she then appeared the very next morning (what a fast world we live in) on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and The Early Show, and Ellen Degeneres (one of my favorites) tweeted that she wants to meet Jennifer Livingston and have her on her show next week!

The part that has struck a cord with me, as with Jennifer’s from what she’s reported, was the part of the letter that said she was not a good role model, especially for girls, because of her weight.

So here’s my two cents…Jennifer Livingston always comes across on camera as smart, prepared, confident, and trustworthy. The same cannot always be said of the other local female anchors and reporters. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: thin does not mean healthy! Jennifer Livingston is a prime role model for girls and just like the person who wrote the letter (and myself for that matter) didn’t know she had a thyroid condition; there are many “thin” women who have eating disorders so the size of a person is not an acceptable measure of their ability to be a healthy role model.