The Gouna Film Festival is still currently going on, and Cosmo ME’s team had the pleasure of sitting down with the young Eyptian-Montenegrin actress, Tara Emad. It isn’t just her fashion sense, her drive and ambition, or her flawless eyebrows that we’re obsessed with.
The Arab female role-model had a lot to say about body image, hate on social media, and her *own* female role-models in the film industry.
Scroll down to read all about it…
On social media & hate…
“No matter what you wear you’re never going to please everyone. I few years back it used to really get to me, why are they saying i’m like a skeleton, even recently someone commented that it looked like someone puked on my face. I thought I looked actually beautiful hahah. I look at it very differently now. I don’t believe it anymore.
I know for a fact that I felt good, and I looked good. I don’t focus on the hate anymore. It’s normal to get bad reviews and hate comments, social media allows it more, people are behind screens so they think they won’t get caught. You have to remind yourself that you’re never going to please everyone. And you shouldn’t.”
On comparing yourself to others…
“Comparing ourselves…I do it sometimes too. I think it’s a trap where you forget your own good qualities. You just have to realise that that person your comparing has their flaws too, we all do. My message is that we should try to compare less, it could lead to self-sabotage. You don’t want to put yourself in a place where you think someone has it all together, they might have their own insecurities too. We all have flaws and as cliche as it sounds, it’s what differentiates us from each other.”
“I always tell my fans, don’t wish to be like me. Maybe I can inspire you to eat healthier, drink more water or try out new bold colours. Get inspired and re-create that with your own character and sense of self. It should always come from who you actually are, because you’re amazing in your own way.”
On body image…
“My body fluctuates a lot, because of the roles I do. Currently i’m doing theatre, and it requires a lot of physical attention. Last year at the last Gouna festival I got comments like ‘Omg you have to lose weight!’ Now that I’ve lost weight from work they’ll comment ‘Omg your arms are so thin you look like a skeleton!’ It took me a while to not compare my body to someone else’s.
Growing up as a teenager I definitely had issues with my body image. Being a model, I always felt inadequate, i always felt that i’m not ‘right,’ maybe i should get tinier or skinnier. So i had this idea that i was never going to have a ‘good body,’ which was very hurtful as a teenager because I had these issues with feeling confident.
I’ve had a lot of body image issues, awareness-wise, years passed and I realised I’m not achieving skinny or the opposite of skinny. I want to be healthy, whatever that looks like. I want to train, I want to be fit. That’s what’s important to me. I started working towards being stronger physically. And once I did that I started loving my body. My body can lift, my body can cycle – I loved that.”
On advising her 14-year-old self…
“Tara, love yourself. I was really harsh on myself, I was never comfortable in my own skin. It was a constant self-hate dialogue. I would tell myself that it’s going to get better.”
On her female role-models in the industry…
“I love Charlize Theron and Meryl Streep, in terms of acting they transform into their characters. I love their movies and I love their whole process of where they started and what they’ve become now. I really appreciate their art.”