Is It Time for Us to Reevaluate Tara Reid?

Over the past year or so, we’ve been forced to confront how cruel and blatantly misogynist the media was towards female celebrities in the early ’00s. Britney Spears, Janet Jackson and Paris Hilton have all been granted reevaluation and, in some cases, public apologies. So why hasn’t Tara Reid received the same mercy yet?

A new profile of the American Pie actress at Buzzfeed takes a hard look at the ways Reid’s career was derailed by assertions that she was a “party girl” while tabloids and bloggers like Perez Hilton consistently body-shamed her. As Reid points out, many of her peers were targeted by the press after getting into legal trouble of some sort, but her biggest sin was simply going out clubbing and enjoying herself while she was in her 20s.

“They all were in jail, they all did fucking sex tapes, crazy shit,” Reid said. “There’s nothing like that about me …Yeah, I partied and had fun. We’d pop bottles of champagne. But who doesn’t?”

The piece also chronicles some of the many insane headlines and comments that made fun of Reid’s botched plastic surgery. (She was given breast implants that were a full cup size larger than what she had asked for, and as Buzzfeed points out, “body contouring left her with a midsection she once called ‘the most ripply, bulgy thing.’”) Can you imagine blaming someone whose body has been permanently scarred or altered in a way they weren’t comfortable with for the way it turned out?

“It was a terrible experience and everyone kept throwing it in my face,” Reid said. “Like, why are you being so mean?” She also speculates over whether the constant mocking had something to do with the fact that she didn’t eventually settle down into a traditional domestic role. “I think what they really wanted from me to make the next change was to get married and have kids. Now, she’s a woman,” she explained. “They wanted to see me have a family, and because I didn’t, it was still fair game.”

She’s got a point. But ultimately, Reid insists she doesn’t need an apology, and she doesn’t want your pity. She told the publication she remains hopeful that eventually, as she ages, maybe people will let up on her.

“Even to this day, there’s still kind of a thing about me,” she said. “Come on, guys. You can’t judge me by my high school picture. I’m 45 years old now … Eventually it’s going to go away, and it is going away. What are they gonna do? Pick on me when I’m 60? I’m a 90-year-old lady and I have a glass in my hand? Fuck off.”