Amy Schumer Gets Real About Body Image on “The Today Show”

Amy Schumer talks body image on “The Today Show.” (Photo: Instagram)

Amy Schumer has made body and sexuality regular topics in her comedy, so it’s easy to assume that confidence has always been among her defining traits. In a recent Today Show interview, though, she told Maria Shriver that this self-assuredness is a new development for her. “It’s been a struggle for me my whole life, and especially just being in the entertainment industry, standing on the stage in front of people, I can’t perform my best if I’m not sure or I’m pulling at something,” Schumer says of her body image. “Sometimes I would just want to kind of throw in the towel and be like, ‘I’m not gonna do standup tonight.’”

Schumer credits stylist Leesa Evans with her newfound self-assuredness. The two met on the set of Schumer’s film, Trainwreck, where her self-esteem underwent a transformation. In a teary-eyed moment, Schumer discussed a turning point for her sense of confidence. “So, Leesa had given me this gift of showing me how to dress and feel good,” says Schumer. “She shopped for my sister also, and seeing my little sister…looking just like a strong, beautiful woman, I realized that by holding myself back I was also holding her back…To see the person I care the most about being given those tools was really moving for me, and I just wanted to give it to every woman.”

Maria Shriver interviewed Amy Schumer and “Trainwreck” stylist Leesa Evans on “The Today Show.” (Photo: Instagram)

Schumer and Evans are now working together to achieve that goal, partnering with Goodwill of Southern California to cohost a Style Empowerment Workshop aiming to inspire and transform women through fashion. At the workshop, Schumer discusses her own struggles with confidence and the resolution she’s achieved. “If you feel smart, you feel sexy, but then you go to get dressed and you just — as I say all the time, I don’t have that chip where I know how to dress,” says Schumer. The workshop hopes to alleviate similar feelings for the participants.

Amy Schumer has made body and sexuality regular topics in her comedy. (Photo: Instagram)

Schumer’s Today Show interview also addressed a recent conflict with Khloé Kardashian regarding a comment that Schumer made about Kardashian’s weight during a monologue. “We have to be a role model for these little girls, ‘cause who do they have? All they have, literally, is the Kardashians…And, like, we used to have Khloé, you know? Khloé was ours, right? But then Khloé, she lost half her body weight. Like, Khloé just—she lost a Kendall. And we have nothing. I want good role models.” Kardashian later replied via Twitter, “No need to tear down others just to make yourself feel bigger. It actually makes you quite small. I’m on a healthy journey, I don’t care for the hate.”

Schumer responded on TV saying, “In my monologue on Saturday Night Live I talked about the Kardashians, and I really like that family and I think those girls are inspiring and they make me laugh. But the idea of not always pushing so hard and having it be about how you look and wanting to alter something, to try to become this perfect woman or thing, and because they’re so heavily in the media, for a lot of women, that’s their role model. So it’s really exciting for me to be in a position to say, ‘what about loving yourself how you are?’”

Schumer will continue the discussion about her self-esteem in her upcoming HBO special, Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo, which airs Saturday.

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