Celebs Cheer Jennifer Love Hewitt's Views on Weight

Celebs Cheer Jennifer Love Hewitt's Views on Weight

Jennifer Love Hewitt's now-famous "bikini blog post" and her critical comments about a celebrity culture obsessed with weight continue to reverberate. PEOPLE magazine's latest cover story, on newsstands Friday, gets the story behind Hewitt's experience, after she was widely ridiculed over photographs taken of her in a bikini from a recent Hawaiian vacation.And at the Dolce & Gabbana fragrance launch party in New York this week, several female celebrities told PEOPLE they felt solidarity with Hewitt. Here's what they had to say:

• Model Petra Nemcova: "There are different angles that everybody, even if you're in great shape, can look bad in a photograph. And printing these images is definitely influencing people's minds – the stars themselves, but also the people who are reading and looking at the images, the teenagers. It's definitely good that she spoke out."

• Rosario Dawson: "They'll make a whole story about it if someone gains 5 lbs. ... It think there is a huge obsession with size-zero jeans, and it's just really scary. I don't really know where that comes from. We're not really in the Twiggy era anymore. It makes me really nervous, because I don't know how in the world we're supposed to be that thin unless we're totally starving and drugging up."

• Anne Hathaway: "[As an actress], most of the year, your body is your own. But to be ridiculed for it is upsetting. But to also have to defend it or explain it or rejoice in it or put it down, or to be expected to have a public opinion about it ... I don't understand when that happened. I don't think women should only be defined by their bodies and their weight. It's a cycle we've been in for some time, and I don't really like it." Meanwhile, Hewitt herself shook off the controversy this week – with a trip to Disneyland with fiancé Ross McCall and three of their friends. "She went on a bunch of rides," says a friend of the 28-year-old actress. "She had a great time."

POLL: Was Jennifer Love Hewitt's Bikini-Bashing Fair?

It was the bikini shot seen 'round the world: Last week, Jennifer Love Hewitt was blasted for wearing a bikini – and not looking like a size zero. The blog commentary led Hewitt to speak out, saying "I'm not upset for me, but for all of the girls out there that are struggling with their body image."

Jennifer Love Hewitt: 'A Size 2 Is Not Fat!'

It should be the time of her life for Jennifer Love Hewitt, instead the newly engaged actress is taking to the Internet to speak out about unflattering photos of herself snapped by the paparazzi during her Hawaiian getaway with fiancé, Scottish actor Ross McCall. "Like all women out there should, I love my body," Hewitt, 28, wrote on her blog after photos of her in a bikini hit the Web. "I know what I look like, and so do my friends and family." Hewitt, who has modeled for Hanes, explains, "I've sat by in silence for a long time now about the way women's bodies are constantly scrutinized. To set the record straight, I'm not upset for me, but for all of the girls out there that are struggling with their body image." She adds, "A size 2 is not fat! Nor will it ever be. And being a size 0 doesn't make you beautiful. … To all girls with butts, boobs, hips and a waist, put on a bikini – put it on and stay strong."