WW brand ambassador Loni Love talks about food and growing up in the projects

As a co-host of the daytime TV talk show “The Real,” Loni Love’s 2019 partnering with WW (formerly branded as Weight Watchers) prompted some comments on this week’s show. Love is a brand ambassador for WW toward her goal of losing weight while also inspiring and influencing others to improve their health.

Love became visibly emotional when she spoke through her tears on a segment for “The Real.” As she talked about growing up, she said, “Let me tell y’all, I did not know how to eat. Growing up in the projects, we just had to eat what we could,” she said. “I know it sounds funny, but a lot of women in the African-American community, we don’t know how to eat because we grew up that way.”

While much of social media came out in support of Love’s comments, many others weren’t buying into her way of thinking as it addressed only unhealthy eating habits of the black community and not the unhealthy habits of the entire American community in general. One Twitter user posted, “Loni has a deep rooted issue with black people and blackness in general that needs to be addressed. Every chance she gets she pathologizes black behavior. Case in point saying black people don’t know how to eat & ignoring the standard AMERICAN diet is unhealthy.”