More share optionsThe Choob has been enjoying the tongue-in-cheek spy adventure Burn Notice, which is midway through its second season on the USA network.
But since it started, one thing has been worrying me – how painfully thin Gabrielle Anwar (who plays hero Michael’s on-off girlfriend, Fiona) is. (Well, actually two things have been troubling me but for now we’ll leave aside the issue of why the writers think it is acceptable to have one of the heroes (Fiona) be an ex-IRA bomber).
Having followed Anwar’s career from her early days on British kids’ TV show Press Gang(written by soon-to-be Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat), through roles in movies such as Scent Of A Woman and Body Snatchers, I was surprised at how dangerously thin and unhealthy she looked.
And this week, it seems the makers of Burn Notice agreed. Let’s investigate The Case Of The Disappearing Belly Button.
These images are from the opening scene when Michael and Fiona arrived at a pool party:
She’s not got a belly button! But she does have a nice smooth stomach.
Now, these pics come from during the party:
Notice that he nice smooth stomach has gone, replaced by protruding ribs and pelvis. And – as if by magic, her belly button that has miraculously appeared.
Just in case there’s any doubt that the earlier images were airbrushed to make the actress look less skinny, here is the clincher. These pics are from the scene when Michael and Fiona are leaving the pool party:
She’s lost her belly button again and her ribs and pelvis aren’t sticking out either. To my untrained eye, the last two photos in particular seem not only to have been altered to get rid of sticky-out ribs and pelvis, but also to make the actress look more curvy and healthy than she actually is.
Bottom line, we are always reading news stories about size-zero models and how dangerous it is for women to be so thin – and here we have the makers of a TV show apparently trying to cover up how dangerously thin their leading lady is.
If they think she looks so unhealthy they need to digitally alter her for broadcast, then surely her bosses should be doing something to help, not hiding any problem that may exist?
The Cathode Ray Choob 
I’m so glad you posted this. It was driving us crazy when we watched this trying to figure out why her belly button was gone. I guess you are probably right about it being a case of trying to cover up her extreme thin-ness, but it was definitely weird!
Hi bekaboo. Yeah, it is very odd. It’s a rather dubious thing for the show’s producer’s to do at all – and then to do it so badly that they erased her belly-button is just bizarre. Not to mention that they did not alter all the scenes featuring Fiona in a bikini! Did they think nobody would notice? Mental. I still enjoy the show though!
I’m with you on their reason for doing it because it’s the only one that “makes sense.” I’m a fan of the show and of Anwar, and have often thought, “that would be one attractive woman if she put on a couple dozen pounds.” I guess you gotta pick your battles. First let’s fight for her belly button, then I’ll fight for a belly.
You’re right Check, one step at a time. I’m all for belly buttons, particularly of the female variety, and don’t want to see them disappear.
Gabrielle Anwar is seriously hot.
Too thin….nope. She looks lean & taut. Fabulously hot in that bikini.
Its really annoying, especially when much of the developed world is overweight, to hear people complain when they see someone thin.
So…lets keep the belly button, abs and bikinis on Gabrielle!
Fair enough. But that’s sort of the point, isn’t it – someone at some point on the show decided, for whatever reason, that her body needed to be digitally altered. Why? And was it justified? And what does it say about the attitudes of the producers of the show?
Anwar is not “too thin”! She is freakin’ lean and fit looking… the are no “protruding ribs and pelvis”. That called rectus abdominis and serratus anterior. Take an anotomy lesson…
Maybe you’re right. You can certainly see her abs in the unaltered images. You can also see her ribs sticking out though.
In any case, it doesn’t explain why the producers decided to digitally erase her abs/ribs.
It’s not for me to judge whether she is too thin or not. However, as a viewer I do think we should question the reasons behind such an obviously bizarre and clumsy example of image manipulation – and I’m struggling to come up with any other reason for it that the theory I gave in the blog post.
But I’m certainly open to other theories.
Normally, I think she looks very thin, but I still wouldn’t mind having her body. However, in these pictures, she looks quite a bit like a cancer patient. Maybe it’s just the headscarf.
p.s. anwar fan you spelled anatomy incorrectly, so let’s not get all high and mighty about other people’s opinions.
I think she looks horrific personally! Not how a woman should look at all the skeletal look is completely unattractive imo. The producers should feed her rather than airbrush the evidence…
The unalterted photos of how she “really” looks makes her look near anorexic. It was a bizzare thing see here with no belly button. She looked almost alien. She should really see a nutritionist. Maybe if she was healthy maybe no touchups would be necessary.
Thats just being fit, with a proper diet to enhance working out.
She looks fantastic!
Hottest woman on TV; fit, beautiful,
gun toting, bada$$
Rock on Gabby!!!
The mystery of the disappearing belly button can probably be attributed to lazy “effects.” They most likely blurred her torso and only masked the edges, instead of leaving the areas untouched where they wanted to retain detail. With the methods I know leaving the belly button would have been at least twice as much work and required an additional video layer. If it was late in production they might not have had time to do it right. If they did have more time then this was just lazy.
Gabrielle looks stunningly GOOD in the unaltered photos. She is lean and fit and SEXY! At 40, she still has one of the sexiest bodies of all time!
I like Anwar a lot, but she is not attractive at all. She is way, way too thin. She looks TERRIBLE in the unaltered photos. I don’t care whether the protrusions are muscles or bones – it looks awful. She looks as though she is in her late 40’s, with no padding to smooth out her wrinkles. She’s a good actress, and I love it that she kicks butt. Attractive though? Un uh. Not even close.
Im a personal trainer and there is nothing wrong with how she looks. She is just lean and probably diets to have her abs for shots like this. Pitty they would ruin it by airbrushing it. If you look at her legs in the episode they look very fit and healthy, not malnurished or sickly. She is just rockin hot and the fatties out there are just jealous she can have such dedication to look the way she does!
I completely agree Joe, nothing is hotter than being lean yet muscular, it wouldn’t hurt to have a little more muscle though.
Anorexic people, who rely on diet only, usually aren’t toned, they look chubby, even if the really are too thin.
Gabrielle Anwar may even eat a lot, but burns it with lots of cardio workout. Personally, i do it with about 270 miles of cycling each week. (not in the winter though, therfore i became a little chubby lately, sob)
Nope, those are clearly pelvic BONES showing, not muscles. Thank god I don’t have any of the trainers on here training me! Anyone who thinks that she looks healthy needs help. Do you realize she is around 10lbs lighter in real life? All she needs is a sickle to complete the look!
I personally like Gabrielle, she’s got an amazing personality that makes her even more attractive. I’ve seen her in interviews and she’s absolutely adorable and while I personally prefer a “softer” looking woman, I find it ironic that people are complaining. If she were a man with the same % of body fat and muscle tone, women would be falling all over themselves. If she were a guy, she’d have the perfect, “Bowflex” body. I’ve never heard *anyone* complain that Brad Pitt is “too skinny”. So why the double standards?
Gabrielle’s height is 5’3″ and she stated in an interview that she weighs 90 lbs.
That gives her a BMI of 16 which is considered underweight. A healthy BMI is 18.
A man at a healthy weight can have quite visible abs. But the percentage body fat that is healthy for men is lower than for women. That is why a man’s adam’s apple is visible, while a woman’s is not.
The lowest percentage body fat that is healthy for a man is 8%. For a woman it is 21%. Quite a difference, huh?
When a woman’s body is below this percentage, she loses her period because there is not enough stored fat to nourish a baby. At 40 years old, this is probably not an issue for Gabrielle. Also there is considerable evidence that living at a near starvation weight prolongs life expectancy.
However, for a man to consider a woman with this weight to be sexually attractive is evolutionarily detrimental. It is highly unlikely that she would be able to conceive a child at this weight.
In our society, the rigor of the (ideal) standard of thinness for women is much tougher than the standard for men. This new emphasis on extreme thinness may be related to:
1. Desire for “moral” compensation for rampant consumerism in the culture and lack of religious striving and asceticism.
2. Masculinization of women (also the thin androgynous look for men) is a more mainstream ideal when there is a more permissive attitude toward homosexuality in a culture.
3. As the population gets bigger we need thinner and thinner ideals. (However these ideals do not seem to be working as motivation for the society to lose weight).
4. None or all of the above.
Other possible reasons for the rise of the thinness ideal for women (and men) in our culture –
5. A devaluation of motherhood. In the Victorian era women took pride in the girth of their hips as a sign of successful childbearing. Today, with the birthrate far below what is was at that time, a woman wants to appear as if she had never had children.
6. Idolization of youth (for both genders). Society no longer places emphasis on respecting elders.
7. A reaction to the cardiovascular health benefits (especially for men) conferred by lower body fat.
Any of these ideas can be considered “good” or “bad” depending on your viewpoint. But these are changes that have happened, largely since the late 1800s.
She is very lean and strong looking without the poor skin that is typical of anorexics. I think she’s awesome and love Fiona!
Anyway, this describes her routine and it sounds pretty healthy to me:
http://www.shedyourweight.com/gabrielle_anwars_diet_and_exercise_routine_keeping_it_healthy_all_the_times.html
PLEASE WOMAN!!! EAT SOMETHING FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!
I’ve just watched that episode. She is very far from being a sexy 40-year old woman (I know because I am in a relationship with a woman in that age).
Men like women with a sexy figure: nice breasts (I think GA has not much up there), great hips (not bones only). She looks to aggressive (like someone that is being chased or hunted), YET she has to (?) behave like a sexy, 30-year old playmate to seduce Michael. Moving like she has something to show (not ribs) is simply ridiculous.
I think she can get a 4/10.
I feel the producers love the fact that Gabrielle, has and can show off her amazing 6 pack. All of the shots that have her mid rift exposed Gab is flexing and curving her spine to show off her bod. Pretty much the same body moves bodybuilders use to show off their bodies. Even in a few scenes in the first season she was sitting flat backed, tall to give off the unreality that she possesses a ridiculously defined 6 pack all the time.
Wonderful website. Lots of helpful information here. I’m sending it to some friends ans additionally sharing in delicious. And obviously, thanks on your effort!
As with many things, beauty is subjective. I find her VERY attractive, but that is me. Cannot we agree to disagree ?
My ex lookes almost this thin and she was in NO WAY anorexic or behlimic! I KNOW cause she ate more than me at 195 lbs and I lived with her in a house for 2 years with a bathroom door that had slats in it and you could hear everything that came out of there ( I know kinda nasty lol) but that just proves to me that she wasn’t purging! I thought she was sexy as hell granted Fiona could use just a couple more lbs but hes not dangerously thin look up anorexic women and you’ll see a difference!
She is not the prettiest women i have seen but she is built nice. The complete package face and body is sweet ,what she lacks in pretty is made up for with that tight body! She can kick my but any time any place she wants!!!!!
Denise, you are amazing! Great post. I really wish I could join in in Jamaica, mon!
How do you make your blog look this sick! Email me if you can and share your wisdom. Id be thankful.
I appreciate her character on the show being a strong woman but the unattainable body image she stands for is unhealthy at best. She looks like a concentration camp victim and some people out there (men) seem to think we as women should look like that. It’s not natural or attractive. Ninety pounds? I never want my 13 year old daughter to try to maintain her 90 pound frame! I want her to grow into a natural woman!
How on earth could any man think this is attractive? She is nasty, nasty, nasty. In her body she looks like a taught little boy. In her face she looks like a woman way older than her actual age, with harsh features and rubbery, unhealthy looking skin. Men who find this to be sexy are probably secretly fantacize about little boys and girls. This is disgusting. It’s very disgusting that our retarted American culture has evolved to producing some members of the population who actually find this crap attractive.
I am an incredibly fit young woman, and being 5’4 and 118lbs the fact that Anwar weighs 30 pounds less than me is horrific!! Do you all realize what kind of pain she must be in to keep her weight so low?! Do all of you “supporters” of her “toned” weight realize how little she can eat no matter how much she works out?! I really wish/ hope the producers have sat down and discussed these concerns with her, and please, all of you “supporters” please please please stop! For someone who was once anorexic herself… Please stop… You are doing more damage than good
As long as she’s happy and healthy, that’s all we should care about. She needs to know we love and respect her talent/beauty, and it’s fine to put on some baby phat. I’m more worried about Sharon’s chain smoking. As a long time fan of the show, the cast has the perfect chemistry and they need to take care of each other, for real. Jeff and Bruce, Gaby and Sharon are your responsibility.
What the hellis the matter with all of you, havent you ever seen and “Outee” naval?? There are outee’s and there are inees, and my experience with people with outees is that that are normally very lean like Gabrielle is. For those of you that think she is too thin, you should pray to the fat gods to make you look like that. I will miss seeing her when Burn Notice leaves us this season.
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Kailash
Im only here because I was looking for pictures of Gabrielle to masturbate to. Her smouldering good looks are So Good, I almost popped one just watching Burn Notice.
i dont care how thin she gets.. i would eat the undigested parts of her defecation and work my kitchen to exhaustion producing food that would keep her well-fed into her 60s.
Well i cant say she is not hot cos she looks anorectic and her stomach isnt beautiful at all. She is beautiful but not her body IN MY opinion. And ppls taste is like an ass split in two halfs.
These comments are completly hilarious! This is the image of a perfect woman. She is thin but also takes care of body and EXERCISES and lifts weights. This is the true image of beauty. The hate of her body is caused solely by jealousy. Why? Well it’s because a great portion of the world’s population will never be able to attain this level of body perfection. I would know because I was a fitness bodybuilder for years but quit due to how extreme it can be.
But this woman was blessed with a great body shape to start and then be able to tone it down to a perfect 6-pack AND tone all the other musles in her body. Most mistakes are caused by people focusing only on certain areas. She has managed to take care of this very well. Make no mistake — bodybuilding is hard but maintaining it is the hardest part (even after having kids!).
Awareness is the first step. Appreciate all the hard work she’s put into that AMAZING body.