In the wake of the tragic death of Monalisa Stephen, the media chorus has sounded—loud and uniform—drowning her identity beneath a label she never asked for: “Plus-Size Actress.” News headline after headline, blog post after blog post, her name is buried beneath a weightier title, but must we all sound weird all together at once?
Why is it that in death, like in life, a woman’s body becomes her only descriptor? Why the body shame?
She was Monalisa. A woman. A human being. An actress. An advocate. A fighter. But the first line of every article reduces her to a description that doesn’t speak well at all, but that of mockery. Was that all she was to us? Is that all we allow women to be—body shame?
At CEAF (Comfort Empowerment and Advocacy Foundation), we speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves. This is not just about a headline. It’s about the violence of language, the unspoken insult that become societal norms, the casual shaming masked as identity. This is not fair at all, so isn’t just one blogger or media could address her well instead of body shaming?
Come to think of it, did anyone stop to ask what she was silently battling? Mental health struggles often wear a smile, and body-shaming digs the wounds deeper. When the spotlight fades and the stage goes dark, do we know what her nights felt like? What loneliness or pain she carried that the world never saw? And this is what she gets in return? This is a call to the media and all: LET’S DO BETTER!
Respect people in their fullness—not reduce them to body types. Her legacy deserves dignity, not labels. Her family deserves peace, not headlines laced with stigma. And girls across the world deserve to know that they are more than the shape of their body.
From all of us at CEAF: Say her name right. Rest Easy, Monalisa Stephen.She was Monalisa Stephen and not Plus-Size Monalisa Stephen. Period.
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