Everyone should live like Miss Piggy

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The modern stuffed animal toys, aka stuffies or plushies, arrived after the Industrial Revolution with German seamstress Margaret Steiff capitalizing on the stitched elephant she'd been using as a pincushion after noticing children playing with it. Soon after, president Theodore Roosevelt inspired the teddy bear, and the rest is history.

Today, these plushies have a reach beyond the playroom. They may indicate devotion (such as these Olympics gifts), provide decorative self-expression (I'm quirky!), broadcast cultural currency (Labubu), or create community and connection (Disney and K-Pop fandoms). But the original role of providing companionship and emotional support still applies for children, sensory-seeking adults and even animals like Panchi-kun, the lonely macaque rejected by his mother.

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Society imposes an array of restrictions on girls at an early age, many of them learned through media consumption. Pop stars like Nelly Furtado and Selena Gomez take flak from commenters for daring to gain weight, while performers such as Lizzo, Kelly Osbourne and Mindy Kaling are shamed for dropping it. Tradwife influencers advise young women to speak in pleasing tones and warn against intimidating the men in their lives. Whether the messaging is overt or implied, young women learn the expectation to dim their lights so others, mainly men, can shine.

This is why I cherished the Miss Piggy bed sheets my mother gave me on some single-digit birthday. She knew what “The Muppet Show” star symbolized and recognized what she meant to her misfit youngest, a zaftig kid frequently chided for taking up too much space. On those sheets, striped with a repeating pattern of Miss Piggy striking different poses underneath a parasol, Miss Piggy models confidence. In front of each row stands a smiling Kermit the Frog, happy to play her photographer.

Had those sheets featured any other childhood character, I doubt I’d have kept them for very long. But Miss Piggy was my slumber mate well past the time of putting aside childish things and replacing ancient bedclothes. I wasn’t obligated to outgrow her. I could aspire to be like her.

Girls and women have looked up to far worse figures. After all, how many fictional characters have an award from the Brooklyn Museum's Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, presented to them by Gloria Steinem? Just her. Additionally, Miss Piggy was named Artist of the Millennium by Las Culturistas (aka Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers) last year. 

“I try to be an inspiration to everyone,” she told “CBS Saturday Morning” co-host Michelle Miller in 2024, “but it is especially heartwarming when a young girl tells moi how much moi means to them.”

Indeed, Miss Piggy’s magnetism transcends gender: Seth Rogen, who earned multiple Emmys for his work on and in “The Studio,” recently executive produced a special 50th anniversary revival of “The Muppet Show” that pairs her with “Manchild” singer Sabrina Carpenter.

Long before all that, Gen X and Millennials came to know her through Jim Henson’s “The Muppet Show,” which originally aired from 1976 until 1981 on CBS prime time lineup. Miss Piggy and Kermit are at the heart of its ragtag variety show, impressing their on-and-off love story on generations of kids who had moved past “Sesame Street” but weren’t quite ready to abandon its friendly comforts. Alas, the pair’s romantic break-up became Twitter official in 2015, prior to the debut of ABC’s mockumentary sitcom “The Muppets.” 

“I'm proud we're broken up. This is going to be great for moi's stardom,” Miss Piggy bragged to critics at a press conference. “Now everybody's going to want to know, ‘Ooh, ooh, who's Miss Piggy dating?  Who is she getting caught snogging with?’"

Although “The Muppet Show” made Piggy an icon, she was introduced as a chorus performer on a 1974 episode of “The Tonight Show.”  That means she recently crossed into her 50s, although when CBS’ Miller asked the glamorous Muppet to confirm that, she creatively maneuvered her interviewer into agreeing that both are 25.

It’s not as if that matters, since neither time nor trends affect her.

Over her five decades in showbiz, Miss Piggy has proven to be more durable than the projects in which she stars. To see why that is, watch her duet and duel with Carpenter in “The Muppet Show” revival. At 26, Carpenter is precisely half of Miss Piggy’s age, and yet they could be fraternal twins.

Some of their resemblance is written into the script, seen in their similar costumes and nearly identical hairstyles down to their golden ringlets. Then again, scroll through Carpenter’s many red carpet snapshots and Miss Piggy’s ever-expanding Instagram feed, and you may recognize the similarities predate the special by several years.

Miss Piggy insists on living la vie en rose above all, including romancing herself. While her affection for Kermit is true, the great joke of their affair is that he’s often portrayed as tolerating her instead of providing the full worship she demands – nay, deserves. If his defining characteristic weren’t competence, Piggy could easily insert him into a cover of “Manchild” instead of duetting with Carpenter in a performance of “Islands in the Stream.”

But their balance of imperfections makes their working relationship inspirational, in its way. Miss Piggy’s personality is simply too much for most to handle. Her inflated self-esteem is a force of nature never wielded unkindly, unless provoked. She always has a brilliant comeback line for every situation, refusing to ever settle for second billing. And Kermit navigates this without diminishing her.

Flesh-and-blood idols almost always fall short of our expectations. Not Miss Piggy. Sure, she’s a work of foam and fabric co-created by a man, Frank Oz, who provided her voice until 2002, when voice actor Eric Jacobson officially took over.

But she’s also a realistic ideal, unique in her ability to wear, be and do anything – including look after herself, thanks to her karate training.  

Despite such versatility, Miss Piggy has never starred in her own movie. That may soon change, thanks to Emma Stone and Jennifer Lawrence, who are collaborating on a film based on a script written by Cole Escola, the Tony-winning writer and star of “Oh, Mary!” If greenlit, it will mark Miss Piggy’s first solo feature ever.

But anyone who grew up with the chicest member of the Muppets’ ensemble cast, whether on their TVs or in their dreams, understands she’s an eternal headliner.

“I’ve basically modeled my whole look and style after you,” Carpenter gushes when she and Piggy finally meet in the recent special. To this, Piggy tartly replies, “My attorneys and I have taken notice. We will be in touch.”

She says this in jest, of course. Carpenter may be one of the biggest stars around, but even she recognizes that when Piggy’s in the room, everyone else should be thrilled to simply be nearby.

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A bonus recommendation from Salon’s Senior Writer Sophia Tesfaye:

Happy Black History Month! I dismissed Willow Smith, self-styled as WILLOW, as just another nepo baby until her 2024 studio album “Empathogen.” (The performance on NPR’s Tiny Desk is a must-watch.) The only daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, WILLOW is a musical intellectual and Black history in the making. Think complex experimental jazz meets hooky groovy.

With her latest release, “Petal Rock Black,” WILLOW continues to carve an authentic voice in the shadow of global celebrity. It’s remarkable to hear her experimental spirit matched by raw vocal talent. Opening with the legendary George Clinton, “Petal Rock Black” goes on to showcase the versatility of WILLOW’s beautiful voice.

As an older millennial, I was actually surprised to hear the artistry beyond WILLOW’s earlier mainstream hits “Whip My Hair” and “Meet Me at Our Spot.” It’s an evolution that should make her parents proud and earn genuine respect.

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