Beyonce doesn’t like when you mess with her image.
Remember back in 2002 when the world-renown singer starred in Austin Powers In Goldmember as Foxxy Cleopatra? Well in a recent Vulture revisit of the film, it was revealed that Beyonce had to fight to stay true to her and her character’s image. The film’s makeup artist Kate Biscoe stated that the singer mentioned that she looked too skinny on the movie poster.
“She says, ‘You made me too skinny. It’s not me,’” Biscoe said. “Then she did this hourglass shape. And he said, ‘Okay, we’ll fix that.’ She walked away to go do the scene, and I looked at him and smiled, like, ‘Is that the first time that you’ve ever had an actress ask to make her body bigger?’ He was like, ‘Yes. It’s going to cost me thousands of dollars, but I am going to do it.” Of course they did it because it’s Beyonce!
Goldmember was the second movie she starred in (the first being Carmen: A Hip Hopera). At the time she was still building a solar career and was on her way to becoming the powerhouse she is today. However, it was brave of her to speak up when many first timers are afraid to. It is common for actresses’ images to be altered to fit certain aesthetics but some do not like their bodies to be changed in that way.
Beyonce isn’t the first, and won’t be the last. Kate Winslet is known for advocating against such practices