When I saw Drew in a Peta ad a few years ago I thought it was probably a bad idea because her weight seems to fluctuate and I had a feeling she was going vegan to lose weight.  I agree with Karen Wiedmeier's post; if you go vegan for animal reasons it's the easiest thing in the world to maintain because there's nothing that could make you consume something that would cause pain to an animal.  Plus you have the peace and joy that comes from living cruelty-free.  

I completely agree with this article! Thank you Pam Anderson- you may not have always been the best role model, but at least you were there for us on the vegan front! I could have cried when I heard Zooey Deschanel fell off the wagon. I usually love her style. It's very disappointing to have such public figures saying it's too hard. Come hang out with me in southern lousiana and I'll show you just how easy it can be to live off $50 a week and be a public vegan in your community WITHOUT falling off the wagon every time someone waves a pizza in your face!

You let Natalie Portman get a pass... Back in May, I wrote about this subject on my blog:  http://veganahimsa.blogspot.com/2011/05/veganism-is-not-choice-its-moral.html

At that time, Natalie was my "target".  But I share your rage about how these celebrities F*ck it up for us vegans and get a harmful message out there that veganism is something difficult or full of things to "give up".

I would argue that these were not "vegans".  They were people who followed a vegan diet.  Following a plant-based diet plan is vastly different than making choices about everything from food to clothes, products, etc... based on a sense of JUSTICE an what is right and wrong fro a moral imperitive.

I agree with all these comments! I think the main thing that concerns me is public figures sending the wrong message about veganism. Whether they like it or not, they have a responsibility to their fans and their actions and words are closely followed. It doesn't matter to me what someone wants to do with his or her life, but it worries me when celebrities act this way because it definitely reinforces negative sterotypes about plant-based eating.

Some people have a bit more of a learning curve than others, but it's really not *that* difficult. If I can do it as a broke college student living on her own, these celebrities with seemingly limitless wealth shouldn't have any issues.

If you're doing it for ethical reasons, it's not hard at all to stick to your guns. Yeah, sometimes it sucks when you gotta turn down pizza, but it's easy when you remind yourself that it's pus and cruelty on there. You can order vegan pizza and add your own cheese if you want the taste and melty goodness that much.

Being vegan makes you feel better, both on a physical *and* spiritual level. I don't see how anyone could go back, knowing what they know.

Celebrities can really do a lot of harm; they may mean well, but their visibility lends them a lot of influence and they need to be more mindful of the messages their words and actions are sending out.  I read Alicia Silverstone's "The Kind Diet," and I was surprised to see a section called "Temptation" where she wrote that every once in a while when she is out with friends, she eats a piece of fish sushi off of one of her friends' plates.  She wrote that she feels guilty about eating her "fishy friends" but she loves sushi so that is what she has to do to live in a world with sushi.  She even wrote that she hoped that this strategy would work for others.  This book was a New York Times bestseller.  It's depressing.

THANK YOU! I have been saying this all year! I'm sick of it! 

The most recent to give up veganism was Natalie Portman, which broke my heart.  I could have accepted it because she gave it up during her pregnancy, but her excuse an inexcapable love of cakes and sweets.  Huh?  What about Babycakes!

My stance overall is that celebrities have a lot of power they unintentionally abuse. The heart is in the right place but more often than not they wind up doing more harm than good.  And PETA is just as gulity, glorifying celebs for such.  You're playing with fire here!