In times of stress, most of us fall into one of two categories: The Reach-for-the-Ben & Jerry’s category or the My-Stomach-Churns-at-the-Thought-of-Food category. So it should come as no surprise when celebs like a recently divorced Madonna and a very recently dumped Jessica Simpson reveal bodies that show the consequences of their relationship woes.

The Material Girl has clearly revolutionized women’s fashion and women’s fitness. She has shown women that the weight room is not just for men and female bodybuilders. But following the recent divorce from her husband Guy Ritchie, Madonna has been hard at work being a single mother and running around the world for her Sticky and Sweet Tour.

It’s been a rough year for Jessica Simpson. If being beautiful, rich and famous is rough. Besides that, she got beat up by the celebrity gossip blogs and even the mainstream press for having experienced phantom weight issues. Then, she gets dumped by her boyfriend, the GQ QB from the Dallas Cowboys, Tony Romo.

What’s a rich and beautiful starlet to do? When you get kicked to the curb, you kick back!

There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned break-up to whip you into shape. And in Jessica Simpson’s case, the road isn’t particularly long. According to OK Magazine, Jessica is on a “Revenge Diet.” Not exactly the most psychologically sound concept, but break-ups make us do irrational things. Or, so I’ve heard.

Recently names like  Oprah, Kathy Ireland, Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Love Hewitt and even Seth Rogen have made headlines for their struggles with weight, and in some cases, the “struggle” seems a little far-fetched. Why are we so obsessed with celebrity weight changes, even minor shifts? Why do we judge them so harshly for even a five pound weight gain or loss? Do we believe it is a job requirement of fame to maintain a personal peak condition? On one hand, we want to believe that it is so “easy” for celebrities to lose weight and stay in shape because they don’t have “real jobs” and can afford to hire professionals to help them out all day every day. On the other hand, do we feel better about ourselves when celebrities are not perfect?

So much has been written about the dangers of exposure to extreme images, accepting those as the norm, as well as of being focused on your own weight, excluding BMI and health as measures. Yet we continue to analyze paparazzi photos for even the hint of a change. A shift in fabric, poor posture, normal bloating, or ill-fitting clothing could all explain a less than flattering photo more than a body change. Focusing on someone else’s weight and making comparisons is just as damaging as criticizing yourself.

So, I guess there’s a big brouhaha among the nasty vindictive star watchers again. This time they are all aflutter about Jessica Simpson, and her apparent negligible weight gain. The New York Post even published a very mean and very exaggerated editorial cartoon about the “situation.”

Alyssa Caplan of AC360 wrote the longest winded blog post imaginable on a subject that is easily summed up in one word: bogus.

Jessica’s sister, Ashlee, came to her defense:

“I am completely disgusted by the headlines concerning my sister’s weight,” Ashlee wrote on her website. “A week after the inauguration and with such a feeling of hope in the air for our country, I find it completely embarrassing and belittling to all women to read about a woman’s weight or figure as a headline on Fox News.”

Do we just tear down our perfect idols to make our imperfect selves feel better?