Celeste Barber wants to make people laugh by “taking the p***” out of celebrities.
The 40-year-old social media star rose to fame by parodying A-listers on Instagram and explained that her work is a look at the “multi-billion dollar body shaming industry”.
She said: “I realized that there were all these kinds of images being put out there, that were sold off as being normal and every day.”
“When you bought a magazine you knew, oh that’s Cindy Crawford being Cindy Crawford but on social media, it got sold as, ‘this is what everyone looks like,’ and I was like, ‘no, I don’t reckon that’s how people really look,’ or ‘I know I don’t look like that,’ so I did ap***-take on it.
“It’s a look at celebrity culture, the beauty industry, the fashion industry, the multibillion-dollar body-shaming industry so it’s just kind of nice to cut through that a bit.”
The comedienne – who has garnered almost 10 million followers online and has impressed the likes of Naomi Watts, Bella Hadid, Halle Berry, Gwyneth Paltrow and Drew Barrymore with her videos – explained that Hollywood stars realize that she is commenting on a “bigger” issue when she creates a parody of them and is able to “cut through” industry norms with her photos.
She told the New York Times’ Page Six column: “They understand it’s a look at something bigger than the individual. The world that they’re in… it’s cutting through the industry, you’re not taking it too seriously.”
“But I think the success that I’ve had is that I’m funny … My goal is first and foremost to make someone laugh. You make someone laugh and then we all kind of even out. That’s always been my goal, to make people laugh.”
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