Note: This post is an Op-Ed and shares the author's personal views.
Let's talk about Meghan Trainor's recent comments on her appearance.
This weekend, Meghan was asked about her "health journey" and looking "fantastic" (safe to assume "thinner" here) at the 2025 Billboard Women in Music event. "Science is the secret. I love it," she replied. "I learned a lot of tricks that I had no idea [about]. I was working out so incorrectly for so long. I was running and doing cardio and my body was inflamed, always."
"I'm trying to biohack my body. So anything that will help me age backwards, I'm into it," she said, noting that she takes "NAD" supplements. "Make me Hailey Bieber, I'll do it, I'll take it."
Fast-forward to yesterday, and Meghan wrote on Instagram, "It’s a little disheartening that so many of the questions (and comments) were focused on my body instead of my music, my passion, or the decade of hard work that got me here. This is what it’s like to be a woman in the music industry."
"No, I don’t look like I did 10 years ago. I’ve been on a journey to be the healthiest, strongest version of myself for my kids and for me. I’ve worked with a dietician, made huge lifestyle changes, started exercising with a trainer, and yes, I used science and support (shoutout to Mounjaro!) to help me after my 2nd pregnancy. And I’m so glad I did because I feel great," she added.
Look, I don't want to shame a woman for changing her body. I recently spoke to Heather Widdows, a professor of philosophy at the University of Warwick and expert on beauty ideals, who told me that it is "completely rational to care about one's looks in such a dominant and demanding beauty ideal." As for what that ideal is, globally, she summed it up as "thinness, firmness, smoothness, and youth."
But I still feel compelled to discuss the harm that can come from taking Meghan's rhetoric at face value. She's using the language of "science" and "biohacking" while simultaneously talking about things like NAD+ supplements, which are both expensive and lacking medical evidence that supplementing NAD+ has anti-aging effects (there is some concern that supplementing NAD+ can actually mess with your body's ability to produce it naturally).
At 31, Meghan is only two years older than me, yet she's already talking about the need to "age backwards." Indeed, she's spoken about previously using Botox to the point where she couldn't even smile anymore. Again, this isn't just Meghan. We've all been inundated with videos of teenagers taping their faces lest a wrinkle appear overnight. But God, does it bum me out. Aging is a privilege, but as women we have to pretend it doesn't happen to us.
Her shift away from cardio workouts also isn't a new "trick" she's learned — she's been candid for some years about losing weight via strength training. In 2022, she said of her weight loss after the birth of her first baby, "I learned that I do like healthy food and I learned what portions mean. And I learned my brain is so happy when I exercise, so I'm just [feeling] better than ever."
Enter GLP-1s. Is this the new bar for "healthy"? Never mind the side effects, or that the total weight loss on them is limited for many people, or that they straight up don't work on some people, or the high price point. Like many people, I constantly see advertisements for weight loss drugs. At some point, you have to wonder...so we're all just trying to look super thin now?
