Maia Tassalini: I Was 22 and Stunning - Maia Tassalini on Monica Lewinsky, Body Image and I Was 22 and Stunning
- Cultural Dose
- 22 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Making her Edinburgh Fringe debut, BBC New Comedian of the Year finalist Maia Tassalini brings I Was 22 and Stunning to Fringe. Through a Gen Z perspective on the 1990s, and drawing on her own experiences as a former plus-size model, she uses Monica Lewinsky as both a muse and a mirror. Covering body image, beauty standards, gossip, internet cruelty and the cultural obsession with endlessly rebooting women’s lives. We spoke with Maia to find out more about the show.
Your show brings a Gen Z perspective to scandals and celebrity culture from the 1990s and 2000s. Why do you think those stories continue to resonate with younger generations who didn't experience them first-hand?
I actually think Gen Z understands those stories better than people sometimes assume because we've grown up watching our own lives become content. The technology has changed, but the emotional mechanics haven't.
When I was growing up I was obsessed with Skins, Gossip Girl and all these stories where your life only seemed meaningful if something dramatic was happening to you. That's really the heart of the show. Monica Lewinsky is someone who made one decision and then discovered that once the story belongs to the public, it never really belongs to you again.
I think younger audiences recognise that immediately because we've all grown up with social media. We understand what it means to be watched, judged and flattened into a narrative, even if it's on a much smaller scale. The details are different, but the feeling is incredibly familiar.
You write about body image, beauty standards and public scrutiny. Do you think conversations around those subjects have genuinely changed, or have they simply taken on new forms?
Both. We've definitely become better at recognising the language of misogyny and body shaming. There are things people said about women in the 90s that would be shocking if they were printed today. But we've also become much better at disguising the same instincts. We don't always shame women for being ‘too fat’ anymore, now we dress it up as wellness, optimisation or concern.
While a few years ago it felt like a given that we were on a linear path from oppression to progression, recently there’s a sense that we’re sliding back into some of those 90s sensibilities. It’s hard to ignore the general shrinking of public women and the widespread return to ultra-thin ideals.
The show looks at public shaming, gossip and internet culture. Why are we still so fascinated by watching other people's lives unfold in public?
Because stories are how human beings make sense of the world, and scandals are stories with impossibly high stakes. I’m someone who has always loved gossip, who lives for it, who luxuriates in it. After all, gossip is simply being interested in the human condition! But on a macro level, that desire to connect with people over something scandalous gets co-opted by a media establishment who knows that humiliating women gets them engagement. And the irony is that they benefit just as much from the ‘everyone was totally wrong about…’ redemption narrative that happens 20 years later. It’s a vicious cycle.
You describe the show as exploring the "terrifying human need to have something, anything, happen to you". Where do you think that feeling comes from?
Youth! When you're in your early twenties you're trying so desperately to become a person. You're waiting for your life to begin, and it's easy to convince yourself that the absolute worst-case scenario isn’t tragedy, it’s mundanity.
I was a Tumblr girl who loved Sylvia Plath and Lana Del Rey and the dark glamour that made them seem immortal.
That's why I connected so deeply with Monica Lewinsky, but I don't think she was looking for infamy. I think she was looking for intensity. I recognised that because I've spent plenty of my own life chasing experiences that felt cinematic rather than necessarily healthy.
The show isn't really about wanting disaster. It's about wanting proof that you're alive. I think that's an incredibly human impulse, even if it can lead us into terrible decisions.
Having worked as a plus-size model before moving into comedy, have those two worlds shaped the way you think about visibility in different ways?
Modelling taught me that being visible doesn't necessarily mean being seen. A lot of the time you're functioning as a symbol for other people's ideas about beauty, aspiration and diversity. You feel quite disconnected.
Comedy is a place where my body is mainly just a canvas for my fabulous stage outfits. That distinction is incredibly freeing. I get to control the narrative around it in a way I never really could in fashion.
This is your debut Edinburgh Fringe hour. How are you feeling about bringing your first full show to that environment?
I started comedy in 2024 so in terms of boots on the ground experience, I’m a baby! But the truth is, I've had a long time to become the person who's capable of making this show.
I’ve been thinking about celebrity culture and shame for my entire life, so this show just feels like the natural next step. I'm genuinely so excited to perform it every night for audiences who've chosen to spend an hour with me. Anyone who comes to the Fringe to support new work is my kind of person. Those are my girls right there!
Maia Tassalini: I Was 22 and Stunning will be performed at 6pm at Pleasance Courtyard from 5th – 30th August.
