“No one ever took care of me back then,” the former Disney Channel star shared

NEED TO KNOW

• Raven-Symoné said that she had to buy all of her red carpet looks growing up because designers didn’t have her size
• “No one ever took care of me back then,” the former Disney Channel star shared on her Tea Time with Raven & Miranda podcast
• Raven-Symoné has previously opened up about the body shaming she’s experienced

Raven-Symoné is reflecting on her red carpet looks of the past.

During the Thursday, Aug. 6 episode of her Tea Time with Raven & Miranda podcast, the singer and actress, 40, got into a discussion about celebrity red carpet fashion with her wife and cohost, Miranda Maday.

“Listen, fashion is beautiful. Zendaya wears it the best. Period, point blank,” Raven-Symoné said. “I think it’s great. But when it’s free. My fashion is never free. I’ve had to buy it my whole entire life because of my size.”

The former Disney Channel star continued, “I didn’t get that free stuff growing up. I had to buy everything that I wore on those carpets. I had to buy those thousand-dollar outfits because no one had my size.”

She then added, “So fashion could f— off, and I’m not sorry for saying that because no one ever took care of me back then.”

Raven-Symoné said that now, she wears clothing by “people that actually care about people my size because now it’s, like, cool to be thick.”

The That’s So Raven star has previously opened up about the body-shaming she experienced growing up in Hollywood.

“My whole life is kind of based on what the industry wants,” she told PEOPLE in 2020. “Other people controlled my hair, my eyebrows, my clothing, my words, everything.”

Of being body-shamed throughout the early 2000s, she recalls, “There was definitely a seesaw within my mind. I prevailed over it because at the end of the day, it’s like, ‘Come on, people, everybody’s a different size.’”

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During a December 2024 episode of her podcast, Raven-Symoné reflected on the pressure she felt to fit into a specific beauty standard.

She revealed that she had the first of two breast reduction surgeries at the suggestion of the adults around her.

“I went from a triple D all the way down to a B. Someone said I needed to do it in order to get a show,” she recalled, adding that her father also “suggested strongly” that she have the procedure done.

Raven-Symoné also shared that she opted to get liposuction at the same time in an effort to quiet external chatter about her size. “I was like, ‘Yeah, if I get lipo, will people stop calling me fat?’ And so, I got a twofer,’ ” she said.

“I have scars. I still have scar tissue to this day,” the star added. “And I gained weight after and had to, like, go back for a quick little, like, [get] a little bit more out ‘cause [my breasts] were still too big for others’ feelings.”

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