Sarah Ditum on How Toxic It Was to Be a Female Celebrity in the 2000s—from Britney Spears to Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Kim Kardashian, and More

There is no better person to close out March and Women’s History Month on I’d Rather Be Reading than Sarah Ditum, author of the new book Toxic: Women, Fame, and the Tabloid 2000s, which came out on January 23. Through the lens of nine of the biggest female celebrities of the 2000s—Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Aaliyah, Janet Jackson, Amy Winehouse, Kim Kardashian, Chyna (the professional wrestler), and Jennifer Aniston, Sarah’s book and this conversation takes a look back at how, well, toxic it was to be a female celebrity in the aughts. As we talk about on the show, with different celebrity magazines picking apart women’s bodies and using women as punching bags, that gave permission for regular people like all of us permission to do the same, and—as Sarah acutely points out—do that not the least of which to ourselves. If you were young and female and coming into your own during this time period as I was, it was not easy, and I’m sure it was the same if you were young and male, too. Celebrity culture in the early aughts was an amalgamation of celebrity sex tapes, tabloids fed by paparazzi willing to do anything to get the shot, Perez Hilton and the internet on its worst behavior, rampant fat-shaming and slut-shaming, and revenge porn. This was the time before all of this was completely unacceptable—sure, it was frowned upon (sometimes), but not unacceptable like it is today, or at least like it is inching towards today. And perhaps no one was treated worse in all of the aforementioned regards than the female celebrity, in a decade where a female celebrity in crisis was the absolute center of attention. Three of the nine women profiled in Sarah’s book—Aaliyah, Amy Winehouse, and Chyna—didn’t survive until present day. This era really was toxic and proof that we can and should always do better in the way we treat women. I’m thankful to Sarah for writing this book and for being here today.

Toxic: Women, Fame, and the Tabloid 2000s by Sarah Ditum

+ check this book out about the power of women working together:

Huddle: How Women Unlock Their Collective Power by Brooke Baldwin