It was obvious, at least to me, that Angelina was grieving and that caused her weight loss. She's still too thin and apparantly she knows that but I think she has gained a little weight back. As her grief goes away her appetite will return.

Uh, as thin as she's become over the last six or so months, I can't imagine that breastfeeding was all that productive.

Um, Lissy, do you need to have big boobs to breastfeed? Didn't realize breast size determines who can breastfeed.

You don't need large breasts to breastfeed but rapid weight loss can jeapordize your baby's health especially during the first 6 months if the baby is relying on breastmilk as her sole source of nutrition. Who knows when she started eating solids though. I knew a mother that started her baby on solids at two months, although that is not recommended.

Honey, I don't think Lissy was referring to breast size being an issue with breastfeeding. I think what she meant and I agree, is that when you breastfeed you do have to care for your nutrition as well. If you are not eating properly, your milk supply will definitely be affected.

I am asking because my Mom, for various reasons, also lost a lot of weight when I was born, yet she breastfed me for almost two years. In some of my childhood pictures, she almost looks like a skeleton, and she hates looking at those pictures. Didn't stop her from breastfeeding me though. I just don't like these kind of judgemental comments about people whose lives we only know about from media soundbites.

Honey - my statement was not a judgment, just an observation. Trust me, I know as much as anyone that breast size has nothing to do with ability to successfully nurse. I'm a tiny A myself and nursed two healthy little girls! My comment was re: nutrition. She lost a substantial amount of weight over the past year and most women know that is tough on your milk supply. Bottom line, my comment was not based on a "media soundbite" but rather on the quite obvious weight loss she's undergone.

Actually a mom's nutrition not being so great is not horrible bad for a breastfed baby. The baby will get the nutrients it needs as it will get it from it's mothers body. The mother will be tired from not eating right, but the baby will be getting what it needs. Compared to formula's nutritional properties a poorly dieting mother's milk is still in most cases better. Especially if the mother is attempting to eat right and it's just weight loss from something like grief that is the problem. Breastmilk is made for each individual baby, and there are people around the world with poor diets whose babies thrive on breastmilk. It's when they wean and go to regular food in these other countries that the real problem begins.

Am I the only one who doesn't believe that she breastfed Shiloh? I am very pro-breastfeeding, I just don't believe that she breastfed for any length of time. Flame away! :-)

That would be a pretty complex lie she upheld then, since she was photographed in her nursing bras and talked about BFing in numerous interviews!

Shiloh looks plenty healthy so I am sure Angelina nursing her provided more than adequate nutrition! I feel for her. EVERYTHING she does or says gets scrutinized by the media. But she handles it so wonderfully. Its been a rough year for her losing her mother. Taking time off after this movie premiere is the best thing for her and her family.

Also remember that you can be a large breasted woman and have real problems breastfeeding. My son was being slowly starved for the first four weeks of his life as I simply wasn't producing milk. In his case formula became the only option and he began to thrive almost immediately. While I still believe that 'breast is best' it also has to be best for the mother and formulas these days are much more sophisticated than they used to be. I feel sorry that Angelina has to cite such a personal sorrow as a reason for the weight loss - you can guarantee if she had put on weight the scrutiny would be the same. Poor woman can't win but I think she is a great mum.

She and my aunt are alike in the weight loss due to grieving/stress of losing someone, etc. It just takes time before you're back on track, especially with my aunt. Of course with my aunt it started way before the loss of my grandmother.

But things are slowly getting better for everyone, especially her. And as it's taking time with her and my family, I'm sure it's going to take some time for Angie.

"Someone saying to me that I'm thin is not a compliment."

I know exactly how she feels. A lot of people don't realize that others who are naturally lean with very high metabolisms how difficult it is to maintain a "normal" weight even under the best of circumstances. Situations like depression, anxiety, forgetting to eat your 2500-3000 calories every day due to work or kids, etc can really wipe you out. It's a hard thing to deal with on it's own, but then there are (facial and vocal) reactions of other people who just assume you are starving yourself or doing drugs or throwing up or diseased.

Best of luck to AJ in putting the pounds back on!

I don't know about the rest of you, but when I'm grieving I always comfort eat!

I like that she's being responsible with her final comment - that it's not a compliment to her if someone calls her thin (please note, I said "to her"). She knows her weight is low and shouldn't be. I think it's a good example for the girls who would want to emulate her that she's not recommending going through what she has in the past year.

Lillybett I'm with you. I'm always reading and hearing about how people don't eat and drop weight when they're sick, grieving, depressed, etc. And all the while I'm thinking, "Gosh, if I could lose weight every time I caught a cold, I would be going around licking sick people!"

I am not a small girl (my fiance happily says I am the perfect size 18 - and for a 5'10 frame, that ain't playin'!), but I work with a woman who is a couple years older than me, is 5'3 on a good day, and can't weigh more than 90 lbs soaking wet (though last week she excitedly claimed she now weighs 105). As we talked, I found out that she and have very similar complaints about our weight - for opposite reasons. We both agree that it is tough to sometimes find clothes that fit us well, because I am very tall and large, and she is very small and very skinny. Very rude people stare at me if I order anything but a salad (welcome to California - ha!), while if she does order a salad, the same people stare at her like she's starving herself. When she got pregnant several years ago, people told her she would finally put on weight, but what little weight she put on flew right back off when she breastfed her daughter.

I guess my point is that for those who are naturally skinny and lean more towards not eating during sorrow or ill health, it can be just as difficult if not more difficult than those of us who tend towards larger (ahem) bounties (and panic at the thought of no diet food). :)

I'm happy that Angelina Jolie is trying to convey a positive image about her weight. I also think she handles all of the press and speculation and rumors and gossip, etc, with grace and poise.

Usually I'm the type of person who eats when I'm depressed or happy or sad or just because it's a Thursday - lol. However, a few years ago after a really bad break up with my then boyfriend, I completely lost my appetite. I no longer had a desire to eat and quickly lost weight. Even seeing how my clothes started to fall off of me didn't inspire me to eat. I wasn't intentionally trying to hurt myself but grief manifests itself in different ways. If I experience this after breaking up with a boyfriend, I can't imagine how I would react to losing my mother. Angelina will be fine with time.

I never wanted to mention my pregnancy weight before but, I am exactly 5'6 and 1/2. When I got pregnant I was 116lbs when I had my son I weighed 214lbs and that I gained 98lbs and I didn't gain because I ate right. Yes, I was toxic but I ate whatever, whenever and at my 6th week check up, I weighed 127lbs and I breast fed for 5 minutes and never exercised. When I saw friends they said, "you are still skinny and that hurt so much", it probably felt the same way as if someone has said, "you are still fat". Some people just aren't meant to be big.

Stephanie, My best friend and I are like that too. The girls eats all the time and is 5'0 and 90 pounds and I'm 5'4 and a size 16, (trying to lose babyweight from 2 close pregnancies)

We were shopping today at the Gap and she couldnt stop complaining how the size XS do not fit her, she always has to take them in!! I have an enormous baby gut and my pants are tight in the gut and loose in the butt because I have *negative ass*

We both have body issues, just from opposite ends of the spectrum.

I do believe the nursing, although I did not lose any weight nursing, as my motherinlaw is 6' and was a skeletor for the 3 years she nursed each of her children. It happens, and I wish Angelina the best of luck.

Tink- ITA! Personally, I'm glad that Angelina DID breastfeed Shiloh! It seems like so many celebs these days are choosing not breastfeed their babies, or they only breastfed them for about a month or so. I am glad that Angelina was willing to give Shiloh what was best for her- breastmilk!

Well, I don't understand this situation with Angie. I thought I read an interview or something not long ago with her brother James.

I can't remember if he was asked about the subject of Angie's weight loss or he was just talking but I clearly remember reading where he stated that ever since Angie's first trip to Cambodia or while filming Tomb Raider that seeing so many children and people literally starving and having to do without really changed the way she began to live and feel. He went on to say that she as an actress and others in her profession are drastically overpaid for their work. After that trip, after realizing that there were people all over the world that had so little to eat or nothing else, she made a conscious effort to eat less; she couldn't look at food in the same way as before. So, she of course has lost a lot of weight and this is the reason why.

This was all according to her brother, but yet Angie makes no mention of this at all. To me, it makes a lot of sense. Her humanitarian lifestyle began from this new outlook of life that had otherwise been hidden to her before.

Posted by: Alioop at Jun 15, 2007 12:01:40 AM

That story came out of a UK tabloid and tabloids have this habit of oh I don't know... LYING so I seriously doubt it's true. Angelina has been visiting refugees for 7 years now and up until a year ago was able to keep her weight on. So it's hard for me to believe that all of a sudden she notices famine. Why is it so hard to believe the woman lost weight because of her mom's illness and subsequent death?

Tink1217 - I absolutely agree. Angelina has to be one of the most scrutinized celebs around and in lots of cases it seems she can't win.

On a different note - can we please not have the breast vs bottle debate again? Every time it seems to become such an issue. For Angelina, or any other person, breastfeeding their child or not is their choice.

I also see no reason that Angelina would lie about having breastfed Shiloh. That comment almost implies a mother should be ashamed and hide the fact that she has not, or did not continue, breastfeeding. Erika - I'm not sure if that is how you meant it ot just how I read it and I am not "flaming away" at all, just my opinion on that one. I am for whatever works best for a mother and baby and while I see all the advantages of breastfeeding, a lot of pro-breastfeeding comments on this site lately have become kind of "preachy" :-)

I can understand the grieving and breastfeeding arguments, but I remember she was already pretty "thin" while pregnant with Shiloh. I particularly remember a picture that was up on Just Jared, of her at a flying lesson when she was about 6 months along, and her arms and legs looked so frail.

It's not just an issue of what you do or do not eat. Sometimes when a person is under great stress (i.e. watching as your terminally ill mothers suffers and then dies) you can eat all you want but still lose alot of weight. The anxiety and stress rev up the body so your metabolism is sky high. This happened to me about 10 years ago for the same reason. So Angelina could be eating normally, which would adequately support her breastfeeding - and still be losing weight.

I am not an Angelina fan, but I just don't understand how people can be so critical of Celebrities weight. Its no ones business but their own. I can't even imagine how hard it has got to be for celebrities to be CONSTANTLy criticized for their weight. They are too fat one minute and than the next they are too thin, they can't win!!!!! I never looked at pictures of Angelina and thought she was THAT thin, (Thin enough that would justify these comments) Yes she is thin, but I never looked at her and thought WOW she looks sickly!

Melanie-- I HATE U!! :) Just Kidding! I was always very slender... I am 5'3" and before I had my sons, I weighed 110. With my 1st. pregnancy (it was high risk) I gained 35 lbs. ( he was 10 weeks preemie) and then dropped down to 135 after having him. Honestly, I did not do very much in the exercise/diet binge because I knew that we wanted to have another and my thoguht process was- why waste time doing all the work- better to do the "work" when we are through having the kids... well my 2nd pregnancy (full-term) I gained 30 lbs. and now 2-years later I am still stagnate at 140~! It's just sooo bloody hard and difficult to motivate myself... I, too as so many of you are a big-comfort-food eater... it's definitely my downfall... eventually I will get to my goal~! I envy all of you women who actually have to fight to put on/keep on the weight... I know what a struggle it can be, obviously not from personal experience- but I have a very good friend who also fits that category... anyway, I just thought that I would add my 2 cents worth.

One thing worth mentioning is that I have read that while breastfeeding, if you are losing weight too quickly and/or not eating enough that the toxins in your body are released in much higher amounts than normal and that is NOT good for the baby, especially a young one. This is what I have been told by my lactation consultant and I have read it numerous places. A website that has some great breastfeeding info on it is www.kellymom.com

I know women who both lose weight and gain weight when they are stressed, grieving, etc. It just really depends on the person... My first pregnancy I gained 57 lbs. and was wearing my pre preg jeans 5 weeks later. My second child I gained 40 lbs. and I still haven't been able to fit into my pre pregnancy jeans and it's been 3 years! I breastfed both of them, my second one I nursed until he was 32 months old!!

I am sure she has lost because of stress. I could only imagine having four young kids to run after and on top of that I probably wouldn't eat if my mother died either I would be so upset.

Who knows why she is really thin, she might like being that way, she is an actress and it's no secret celebrities like to be thin. I'm a person that has always been very thin, I'm a picky eater and I also workout reguarly, and I'm also a personal trainer. I don't know if I buy angelina's excuse of stress or whatever though. She has always been skinny, even before breastfeeding and losing her mother,so maybe she just always watches what she eats and works out, even when pregnant she never looked big. She does look too skinny lately though, not an a healthy way.