For once I agree with a Lib Dem.

[Gob]

Christina Hendricks, the voluptuous star of television series Mad Men, has been hailed as an “absolutely fabulous” physical role model for girls by British Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone.

The UK size-14 actress, who plays feisty secretary Joan Harris, has refused to slim down despite calls for her to lose weight.

Jackie Stept, the actress's mother who lives in Los Angeles, said the accolade was “lovely” and proved her daughter's approach was right.

“I did always encourage her to be herself,” she said after being told of the MP's comments, adding that she would tell her daughter she had been declared a role model in Britain.

The actress said of her mother: “She was very celebratory of her body. I never heard her once say 'I feel fat"'.

In May, Hendricks was voted the sexiest woman alive by female readers of Esquire magazine, eclipsing her fellow actress Megan Fox and Michelle Obama.



The Liberal Democrat minister cited Hendricks as she criticised the “overexposure” of skinny models, which she said was causing a crisis in “body confidence” among the young.

The use of such models, as well as the routine use of airbrushing, meant that girls and women came under “dreadful pressure … to conform to completely unachievable body stereotypes”, she said.

Mrs Featherstone said: “Christina Hendricks is absolutely fabulous".

“We need more of these role models," she said. "There is such a sensation when there is a curvy role model. It shouldn't be so unusual.”

But it is open to debate exactly how closely Hendricks matches the type of role model in mind by the minister, who was herself voted the most fanciable MP.

In Mad Men, her character has an affair with a married executive.

Hendricks has put down her popularity among female fans to her character in the series.

“They like to see a woman standing up for herself, especially in this atmosphere in 1962. Joan's sassy. She snaps back," she said.

“Men love her because she's in touch with her sexuality and femininity. The men in the office can play with her a little bit. They can tease her, and she's not going to be in the bathroom crying later.”

Hendricks appeared to relish the attention that her 36C breasts had generated.

Asked how she felt about them, she responded: “They are fabulous”.

She also gave advice to men in the magazine on how to get women into bed.

They should engage in conduct that many feminists would see as outdated, the actress said.

“Stand up, open a door, offer a jacket,” she advised. “It makes us feel important.”

Mrs Featherstone plans to meet representatives of the fashion industry later this year and will propose that digitally enhanced images carry a warning so readers know they were altered.

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/people/ ... utostart=1

[loCAtek]

Awesome! never watched the show, but she should get some more sun!

[Beer Sponge]

She is beautiful, and no, she does not need to get more sun!

[Rick]

She's a red head.

She probably gets all the sun she wants...

[Crackpot]

depends if she's true ginger or a daywalker.

[Gob]

Does the carpet match the curtains?

[Long Run]

1,000 miles north she can get all the Lebanese food she wants; and I will try to be there to make sure she gets exact kind of schwarma and baklava that she wants! Maybe I will be there every night since

[Gob]

You're on a roll today Long Run...

[Sue U]

1,000 miles north she can get all the Lebanese food she wants;

She's lebanese? I thought she was married to a man person?

[The Hen]

Love the figure. Want the figure.

[loCAtek]

Yea, if I was a lezzie, I'd go for cheesecake, not cheesesticks.

[Guinevere]

Love the figure. Want the figure.

Ditto.

[Beer Sponge]

Love the figure. Want the figure.

Me too!

Perhaps not in the same way you do, however!

[Gob]

The Tennessee-born beauty, 35, was appearing on breakfast show KTLA to promote the new season of Mad Men, which started in the U.S. last weekend. Starting the interview, McFayden brought up Hendricks' recent Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.

As the nomination is her first ever Emmy nod, McFayden asked her to relive the moment she learned she was up for an award at the September ceremony.She said: 'I had to be at work really, really early that morning and I was running my bath. I had everything timed out to get every last minute of sleep because it was 5.30 in the morning.'

She went on to explain how her publicist phoned her to inform her she had received a nomination and how 'pleasantly surprised' she was.

As McFayden's female co-anchors took over the interview, the 33-year-old remained suspiciously quiet and when it finally came for him to speak, he found himself struggling to get the words out.

After one of his co-hosts mentioned the male and female response to Hendricks' famous curves, MacFayden said: 'I was just gonna say that... I wasn't gonna be like, "Oh, I'm hitting on you," but you've got an amazing body.'

After she accused him of flirting with the previous guest, he continued: 'I'm saying you're a beautiful woman and I would like... the bath... the way you made... I mean, I'm stumbling on my words... what I'm trying to say, is you were drawing a bath, you're making a bath for yourself and I was just thinking... wow, that's just awesome.'


Hendricks left him further embarrassed when she said: 'That was two conversations ago, but thank you for remembering.'


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