Ahhh, the early 2000s. An era defined by butterfly clips, low-rise pants, and absolutely demolishing any female celebrity who dare wear anything above a size 00.


As the trendy waif figure of the ‘90s lingered into the new millennium, several stars found themselves the center of a media frenzy for well, looking normal, a trend Twitter user @CarolineMoss broached earlier this week alongside a now-infamous photo of pop star/notable tuna investigator, Jessica Simpson.


“If gen-z wants to understand millennials they first need to understand that for the entirety of 2008 we were told that this was the most disgusting a person could EVER look,” Moss captioned her now-viral tweet, including a photo of Simpson sporting a pair of high-waisted jeans and a black tank top while performing at a Radio 99.9 Kiss Country’s annual Chili Cookoff in January 2009.



“It was a cover story in every mag, rag and blog for like, *months* at a time,” she elaborated, linking to a scathing tabloid article slamming Simpson’s physical appearance. “They called her Jumbo Jessica. She was a size 6!”



Though @CarolineMoss’s post garnered several replies condemning the press’ treatment of Simpson – “I’ve pushed the fatphobia of the 2000s so far into the back of my mind that I thought this was about her outfit,” said @TheGymHeaux. 


Though Simpson fired back at tabloids and body shamers shortly after the photo first dominated entertainment news sites  – “the fact I was famous last year for gaining 10 pounds is ridiculous and really sad,” she told Oprah Winfrey the following year – The Dukes of Hazzard icon would later reveal just how much this scrutiny took a toll on her.


"There is a wonderful movement for body positivity now and the response to that portion of my story has been overwhelmingly supportive," she explained to People in 2021 after the release of her memoir Open Book, which featured a 2009 diary entry explaining how body shamers left her “heartbroken.”


"I don't think people always realized that there was a human being, a beating heart and working eyes with actual feelings behind those headlines,” she continued. “Words can hurt and stay with you for a lifetime."


But Simpson was far from the only celebrity who faced this type of ridicule, as several noted on @CarolineMoss’ post.


“On this night in 2007 she was called a whale,” wrote @mattxiv alongside a snap of Britney Spears amid her now-infamous performance of “Gimme More” at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards.



“In 1997 when Titanic came out, people loved to talk about how fat Kate Winslet was,” added @britneyqueers_.




“The fact that this was the representative "fat" character of the early 2000s and people just accepted it…” @rspacewhalereal captioned a screengrab of a very normal-looking Renée Zellweger in 2001’s Bridget Jones's Diary.



So take it from Twitter, Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears, Kate Winslet, Renée Zellweger and anyone who was even remotely sentient in the year 2000 – we've come a long, long way.