Princess Máxima, Current Events 2 (May - October 2006)

[lizichitao]

She looks like Renee Zellweger,When I saw "Bridget Jones's Diary"(1,2)last week,I was shocked.They are so much alike!Especially for "The edge of reason".BJ is very lovely indeed and so dos Maxima,Renee Zellweger is one of my favoruite stars in USA,she is the best actress in Hollywood in my mind.I like Maxima's smile,just as she does.It will be more nice if she loses some weight,but her prince loves her

[Lady Jean]

Originally Posted by lizichitao

...It will be more nice if she loses some weight,but her prince loves her

I don't see where she needs to lose weight. She is a very attractive woman.

[princess olga]

Originally Posted by lizichitao

She looks like Renee Zellweger,When I saw "Bridget Jones's Diary"(1,2)last week,I was shocked.They are so much alike!Especially for "The edge of reason".BJ is very lovely indeed and so dos Maxima,Renee Zellweger is one of my favoruite stars in USA,she is the best actress in Hollywood in my mind.I like Maxima's smile,just as she does.It will be more nice if she loses some weight,but her prince loves her

I agree that facially speaking, Maxima and Renee Zellweger have many features in common. They both are blessed with lovely facial features, in my opinion.

But after that, you lose me. ARe you trying to say Maxima should lose weight so she can resemble the skeleton that's the body of Zellweger? Please. You seem to be buying into the hollywood idiocy of "less weight is more."
More..of what? Maxima doesn't have to resemble an anorexic in order to do a decent job representing the Netherlands. The girl looks fine the way she currently is and I'd bet that the majority of the Dutch, the people whose spokes person she is, would agree with me here.

[Kelly]

Well I personally like Maxima's image. A full latina all the way to her style. I also don't think she is chubby or needs to lose any weight.

[Maxie]

Originally Posted by princess olga

The girl looks fine the way she currently is and I'd bet that the majority of the Dutch, the people whose spokes person she is, would agree with me here.

Count me in one that one! One Dutchie on your side, princess Olga!

[Alexandria]

Originally Posted by lizichitao

It will be more nice if she loses some weight,but her prince loves her

I am personally very bothered by comments that any of the current princesses need to lose weight, as I do not believe that any of them are of a weight that would be considered obese by any physician and would therefore pose a health problem to them.

In Maxima I see someone who is radiant and happy with her life, with her husband and her daughters. And on the flip side, a husband and two daughters who love her greatly. I don't see how losing a few pounds would alter their feelings for her or her for them.

To me such comments about princesses needing to lose weight are unjust. They are insensitive on the lesser end and extxremely cruel on the greater end. Even the most confident of women, such as Maxima, reading repeatedly that people looking at her pictures think she is overweight or "chunky," could lower her self-esteem and affect how she perceives herself and her perception of her body image.

I do not want to get on my soap box about this, but the issue of anorexia and bulimia are very close to me. I have a very good friend who has battled anorexia for more than 10 years. For the past two years she has been in and out of eating disorder treatment programs, and earlier this year tried to kill herself. Why? Because someone told her more than 10 years ago that it wouldn't hurt her to lose a few pounds, when she clearly did not need to lose even one pound. And more than 10 years later, despite everything that she has accomplished the words of that cruel person have stuck in her head and forever in her head she is a fat 14 year old girl who will never be thin enough.

Just because you type things to a computer screen does not mean that your words don't have an impact. Maybe Maxima doesn't read this forum and she'll never see that some people think she's overweight (or conversely, that some people, like me, love her the way she is), but consider that there are thousands of female members of this forum who do read these pages daily. Consider that even one of those thousands of girls idolizes Maxima and wants to be like her in every way. Then along comes a post that says her idol is fat, consider how that might affect her. Words sometimes hurt more than a punch does, and words certainly last longer in our memories than a black eye.

[popy]

well said Alexandria :)

[Emily]

Excellent response, Alexandria.

[princess olga]

couldn't agree more with Alexandria.
I'll admit that I'm one of those royal spectators who tends to be very critical of royals & their conduct, and that I am often very vocal about it on the forum.

However, even I draw a line, at two things:
*being critical of people's weight. especially since the people we're talking about here don't have one ounce too many on their limbs.
*being critical of the appearance of royal children. that's another area I would consider off base because the damage comments in that area could do, seems infinite.

Back to Maxima: appearance-wise, she is as good as it gets. No, not only to "her husband and kids who love her", no. I'm talking here about her appearance in her capacity as ambassador at large of the Netherlands.
Anyone who has ever seen her in an evening dress revealing her bony shoulders, knows that if anything, she is even on the thin side.

And what is it anyway with the ever increasing global expectation that professional women better look like famine victims or else their professionalism isn't validated?!! I'm glad that Maxima is an excellent role model to her daughters: she is the living example that in order to be a successful woman and have a fullfilling existence, you don't have to look like a walking talking toothpick with a head.

And like Alexandria, I myself don't have a weight problem nor do I suffer an eating disorder but believe me, I know plenty of women in my own environment who do, and it's because of comments like the one above.

[princess olga]

Originally Posted by Maxie

Count me in one that one! One Dutchie on your side, princess Olga!

yes thank goodness that if anything, the Dutch media have as far as I know, never resorted to being critical of any of the new-ish princesses' weight.

[viola]

Agreed, well said Alexandria.

[Alexandria]

Thank you everyone. :) I didn't want to sound preachy, but when I read a comment about some princess (or some female public figure) needing to lose a few pounds so that she'll look better in her clothes, or alternatively that because she's got a few pounds on her then she must be pregnant, it feels very flippant to me considering the experience I've had with my friend.

I think that no matter how much Maxima weighs, whether she were 10 pounds less or 10 pounds more, she would still be the exuberant and smiling Maxima we all love. And that she would continue to represent causes like microfinance and she would continue to be a good wife and mom.

As a member and as an Administrator of this forum, I am willing to accept criticism and negative comments of royals. Nobody is perfect, including royals. And if any member wants to write that they dislike Maxima's outfit, or thinks she needs to work more, take fewer holidays, wear more Dutch designers, etc. I have no issue with such comments. Sometimes such comments are trivial, sometimes there is a ring of truth to them, and sometimes you can't believe them at all. But at least they aren't the kind of comments that can do serious harm. We are all able to read them, agree or disagree, and walk away from the forum without having felt like our self-image or that of Maxima has been adversly affected.

[Maxie]

Originally Posted by princess olga

yes thank goodness that if anything, the Dutch media have as far as I know, never resorted to being critical of any of the new-ish princesses' weight.

Yes, you're right. I never read something about it (well, maybe in some boulevard press, but I think you all know how we should think about them).

I totally agree with Alexandria. Not so long ago I went shopping with a friend and she almost started crying that she didn't fit into a size 38, but had to buy a jacket in 40 (sorry, don't know the US variants of sizes, but 36 and 38 is for small persons and 40 is the regular size, at least here in the Netherlands). I was quite surprised how somebody who looked so well could go crazy about a stupid size, but I guess that is what the media and people who follow their standards do to us nowadays. And that's a very very bad thing!

[Mathilde1286]

You couldn't have said it any better, Alexandria! I know how you feel; Those issues are very close to me, too. And it is very shallow and self-righteous for someone to say that Maxima would look better if she were thinner. That does not make a person. Personality, humbleness and morals make a person, which in Maxima's case, she possess all those qualitites and more. She's not one ounce overweight; she looks perfect and does not need to "worry" about her weight because there is nothing to worry about.

=) You go Maxima!!

[lucien]

Princess Máxima will unveil a statuette with her image at the museum Beelden aan Zee,Scheveningen on monday june 19th.The statuette will be part of the permanent portrait gallery of the museum.

[Princess Maxima]

Máxima today:) (from ANP)

[lucien]

Princess Máxima was incredible again,in red.:)

[blyton]

Nice hat!! Maxima looks good as usual.

[mandyy]

Argentinean born, Princess Maxima of Holland looks at a sculpture representing herself after it was unveiled at the Museum 'Beelden aan Zee' in The Hague/Scheveningen, the Netherlands, Monday June 19, 2006. The sculpture is made by sculptress Tony van der Vorst.

from AP

[elmabruin]

Maxima looks wonderful