Jackie O and the exact moment women come out of hibernation.

Jackie O is looking incredible. 

If, by incredible, we mean slim and young. And let's be honest, that's exactly what we mean. 

And if you pay even fleeting attention to mainstream media, you already know this, because suddenly, she's everywhere. 

The radio host is on the cover of weekend magazines, and being interviewed on Sunrise, and appearing in adverts for WW (formerly known as Weight Watchers) and she's at fashion week and she's at opening nights and she's front and centre on KISS FM's socials where she — as one of the highest-rated, most-listened-to voices in the country — shares top billing with her co-host Kyle Sandilands.

There is nothing second-fiddle about Jackie O's current era. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jackie O (@jackieo_official)

But if you entertained the idea — just for a moment — that we've changed the way we talk about women's appearance and bodies publicly, with all we now know about the dangers of diet culture, you'd be wrong. 

"How much weight have you lost?" Natalie Barr asks Jackie, right off the bat, in their Sunrise chat. 

And Jackie O answers her, and goes into exactly what she eats in a day (which sounds perfectly healthy and delicious, especially compared to Gwyneth Paltrow's bone-broth and IV diet) and patiently entertains questions about exercise, and dating, and when, exactly she hit "rock bottom". 

It's not entirely clear what "rock bottom" refers to in this context, but Jackie O's answer — that one of her best friends called her out on having retreated to the point of disappearance — suggests it was the post-divorce zenith of feeling shit about herself, inside and out. 

Watch: How to improve your daughter's body image. Post continues after video. 

"You don't do anything, you don't go anywhere, you're cancelling," she said, recounting a tough-love conversation her best friend instigated. "This is not who you are.

"I was very isolated and I'd become a hermit and I didn't do anything that was good for my body." 

There is, of course, a big, fat issue with equating the size and shape and weight of a woman's body with her health, confidence and happiness.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jackie O (@jackieo_official)

But there is also a big, fat, uncomfortable truth. Because Jackie O doesn't have much in common with many "ordinary" 48-year-old women, who are not multi-millionaires with multiple homes and the kind of job that regularly lands them in gossip columns. But she is not the only 40-something, recently-single woman to have gone into hibernation because she didn't like the way she looked, and the way she felt about the way she looked. 

For the rest of us, it might mean refusing to jump into "girls' night" group photos. Insisting on two rounds of approvals before your sister can post that picture of you at Christmas. Not going to a party because you can't even begin to think about what to wear that you won't hate yourself in. 

Avoiding catching up with friends or colleagues or family who haven't seen you for a while because you can't stand to see yourself reflected in their eyes. Resisting the dating apps until you feel vaguely worthy of a swipe.

It's not great. It's not right. But it's real.

If young women are more consumed with body image anxieties than ever (78 per cent of girls report dissatisfaction with how their bodies look by the time they're 17), older women are literally disappearing from their lives because they don't feel like they deserve Main Character billing any more. That dissatisfaction number only dips to 73 per cent for women in their 40s, and, depressingly, sits at 60 per cent for women in their 60s and beyond.

We're not done feeling shitty about our bodies just because we're older and wiser.  

It's why we love a Relaunch, Jackie O style. On the other side of the mythical midlife makeover, she now the confidence to step back into the picture, literally and figuratively. 

But is bad for us, or good for us, to see a celebrity like O celebrated for struggling through a midlife slump? 

She insists the invitations to pose for magazine covers and appear on TV were there before her "make over", but she didn't want to take them. Not when she was living in a body that even her best mate, co-host Sandilands described as "stacking on the kilos" and "unrootable". 

Not when every magazine story was analysing where on her "weight loss journey" she was at any given moment. Not when there are so very many "before" pictures rolling around the Internet when you've been famous for almost 20 years. 

Listen to the Mamamia Out Loud team discussing the downfall of Jenny Craig below. Article continues after podcast. 

It's all reminiscent of a friend of mine who lost a significant amount of weight because of a serious gut health issue. While she was still feeling weak and unwell, her boss offered her a job she'd never been considered for before, because suddenly, she looked the part. She shouldn't have been surprised — straight-sized women are statistically more likely to be offered a job, and more likely to be well-paid when they are, than plus-sized women across many industries.  

Or when I was advised to revise my diet after a raft of health checks and I did. I lost some weight, and people told me how great I looked, how nice my clothes were, how happy I seemed. 

And the uncomfortable truth is, I was happier. Because it's easier to be happy when you fit conventional beauty standards. When people are paying you compliments, when you're not constantly berating yourself for not looking or feeling like you "should". When clothes fit you and the world fits you.

It's not great. It's not right, but it's real. The world is designed for women who look like the "after" Jackie, even though there was absolutely nothing wrong with the extraordinarily privileged and attractive "before" Jackie.  

And it's easier to come out of hibernation as a midlife, single woman, if you still tick the "hot" box. 

We should just be reminding ourselves to always be asking, Why?

Feature Image: Sunrise/Mamamia.