Former supermodel Lesley Lawson, a.k.a., “Twiggy,” was huge in the 1960s. She famously popularized the waif look long before heroin chic rolled into town. Her image endures even though she modelled seriously for only five years. Twiggy quickly moved onto acting, singing, and creating her own fashion line. She’s 65 now and puts out an HSN line that caters to older women.

Twiggy’s been making the press rounds lately. She recently appeared on the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? and discovered her great-great grandmother died during a stampede at a clothing sale. For real. This was long in 1897, long before Black Friday sales at Walmart. Twiggy responded, “Oh my goodness, oh my gosh. 1897, killed at a bargain sale! Oh I shouldn’t laugh.” That must be absurd news to receive about a relative. Sad, but very strange.

Twiggy sat down for a few interviews with the Mail and the Mirror. Both conversations turned to diet and obesity. Twiggy feels that obesity is a tragedy, and she blames people’s laziness in grabbing fast food. She doesn’t really offer a solution except to say that people should cook at home. I guess former supermodels have never heard the term “food desert.” Let’s do this:

Twiggy on obesity: “I feel strongly that you are what you eat and I do think the obesity problem is a tragedy. They say that what happens in America comes here ten years later and it has. I think it’s a lot to do with fast food and how easy it is to buy it.”

Her solution: “I know people have financial problems sometimes but if one can buy good food and cook it they’ll find it doesn’t always cost more. But it’s whether people have got the inclination or the time. It’s so much easier to buy rubbish. I find that really upsetting actually. The worst thing is fizzy drinks. You see kids walking along the street glugging them down. I watched a program the other night and they were showing four-year-olds with their teeth falling out. We didn’t grow up with that.”

Her own weight struggles: “In my 40s I developed a bit of a middle-age spread. So now I follow a healthy eating regime. Some models starve themselves but I was just a naturally skinny kid. I used to eat everything, even big bars of chocolate, but I could not put on weight. I still have chocolate in my fridge but I’ll only eat one square at a time. And I only allow myself one pudding a month. I don’t believe in dieting, though. It’s so boring.”

[From The Mirror & Daily Mail]

Twiggy admits that she was once blessed with an ultra-high metabolism, so she ate like crap. She only eats healthy now to keep her weight down. Otherwise, she’d still eat garbage. She still feels justified in criticizing others’ “rubbish” eating habits. I agree with her about sugary drinks, but she doesn’t understand how many people rely upon preservative-filled, high-calorie food because it is more affordable than a cart full of fresh fruits and lean protein.

Twiggy is correct about food being cheaper at a grocery store than a restaurant. But healthy food is almost always more expensive than junk food — no matter where it is purchased. She definitely doesn’t get that people who rely on public transportation usually have no way to transport multiple bags of fresh groceries home without them spoiling. And those are the people who are lucky enough to live in a city with reliable public transport.

My take-away from these interviews: Twiggy is kind of privileged and clueless.

Photos courtesy of WENN

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