Update Note: In the quote in the title, Metz is referring to the fact that women who are thinner than she is can also relate to her body image struggles and that she appreciates it. It’s a message of inclusion for thinner women. She’s not saying she’s fine at her current size and that only feelings matter. In fact she says in this article that she is working to lose weight. She does talk about health problems associated with being heavy, and how she doesn’t want that for herself. Please read her interview before making assumptions.
Corey is our resident This is Us fan so she covers the stories relating to that very popular, heart-wrenching show. I’m not yet watching it and am here for Chrissy Metz. We covered her first person essay for Glamour magazine last week and was just so impressed with everything she’s gone through in life, and how she’s come out the other side. Chrissy has really struggled in her life and career and is now achieving success at 36. She had her big break on American Horror Story in 2014 but instead of that being a springboard for more roles she didn’t get offers for so long that she had to move in with friends and eat ramen to survive. Many of you say she’s a standout on This is US. It’s so nice to see her on the cover of People and to hear more of her story. Chrissy dealt with profound depression and with so many challenges and it sounds like she’s now coming out on the other side of it.
“I’d be getting maybe two auditions a year, and I’d always see the same small group of girls,” says Metz, who was a size 12 when she was first scouted but dropped 50 lbs. at the recommendation of her then-manager before moving to L.A.
With work slow, she took a job as a junior commercial casting agent but says having to backburner her own dreams “was like watching your boyfriend take another woman out every day.”
Depressed and “eating my feelings,” Metz gained more than 100 lbs. before a panic attack on her 30th birthday sent her to the hospital and snapped her back into reality.
She set about overhauling herself physically and emotionally, including following doctor’s orders to lose weight. “I was so gung ho, I lost 100 lbs. in less than five months,” she says. “All I did was eat a 2,000-calorie diet and walk 20 minutes a day.”
As the numbers on the scale fell, Metz regained confidence. Then she landed the recurring part on American Horror Story: Freak Show that would kick-start her career.
Playing a “fat lady” meant stepping into a fat suit. “It was sobering,” she says. “I thought, ‘What if I become that heavy and can’t walk around or get stuck in the doorframe? I was like, ‘I don’t want this for me.’ ”
The role also lead her to This Is Us. Baring her body and stepping on a scale within the first few minutes of the show’s pilot this past September, Metz — through her character — Kate instantly instantly became a fan-favorite.
“You don’t realize that somebody who’s average or even very fit could relate to someone who’s overweight,” she says of the feedback she’s gotten, “but it’s not about our size — it’s how we look at ourselves and how we feel about ourselves.”
As for what’s next, while Metz says she’s taking steps to lose weight, she does make it clear that the stops along her weight loss journey are “not for anybody but myself. … I want to have a fit, healthy body and not have to be put in a box. I don’t want to be limited by anything.”
The more I hear from Chrissy, the more I like her. I really like how she frames her journey as personal and yet relatable. This line “it’s not about our size — it’s how we look at ourselves and how we feel about ourselves” is so true. So many of us struggle with body image and fitting in and we can relate. All this other stuff is superficial but representation matters and it’s nice to see Chrissy on TV and to hear someone be so genuine and open about their experience.
photos credit: WENN and Getty
I love her, she’s a fabulous actress and really funny, and the highlight of her show.
But PLEASE don’t delete my comment for saying that her size makes me worry. Two weeks ago watching This Is Us, she was wearing athletic pants and it was clear that she has small, toned legs. But she carries so much abdominal weight, and that’s the kind of weight that causes a stroke. I do worry and I’m not a “concern troll”. I worry about the message that the way we feel is “all that matters”. Because when you are so far out of a healthy weight range, whether overweight or underweight, that does greatly matter.
I just don’t understand why the conversations of “my body deserves so much love no matter what it looks like” and “my body deserves to be healthy so I can live well and long” can’t go side-by-side. And I’m asking. Why? Because I’m overweight and both of these dialogues exist within me.
i agree. I struggle myself with keeping the pounds off and the pressure in Hollywood must be insane, but she obviously also went through kind of extreme weight loss and weight gain in a short time, which is not healthy.
So yes, I like seeing women of all sizes on tv and I applaud her for being comfortable, but the message should always include the health aspect.
I hear you on that but I like her because she will admit she’s actively losing weight and that she’s struggled with it, and she’s not someone saying that she’s perfect the way she is. There are a lot of “Health At Every Size” activists who get it wrong, in my opinion, but she’s not one of them. This is her size, she’s working on it, and she’s thoughtful and honest about her life. I admire that so much. When she said that “it’s not about our size — it’s how we look at ourselves and how we feel about ourselves” it was a message of inclusion toward thinner women, saying that we can all relate to each other, it wasn’t an “I’m fine the way I am” message.
Totally agree with you. It’s great to embrace yourself for who you are…to be comfortable in your own skin, but at what point is it too much.
Came here to say the same thing Patricia. While I find the show kind of soap opera-like and redundant (boring,) I like her in interviews and as an actress but I do worry for her health. She is long past a healthy weight for a larger woman. That abdominal weight is what gives women in particular some very critical issues, particularly strokes and heart attacks. That is too much stress for your bone structure. I appreciate her candor about her struggles but I still worry.
+1 health is no joke. I appear very healthy on the outside- thin, bmi of 21, cardio daily etc. but i went for a wellness check where they did an echo, and I found out I have low EF!!! My pump is not efficiently pumping out blood. I had NO IDEA. I say this to say- Health is NOT a given. It’s actually very easy to slowly, silently damage it while “seeming” normal, so imagine if it’s totally outside the range on top of that. I think if everyone got full, deep work ups and realized human fragility, we’d have a much healthier world, or one more serious about it.
Yikes! Cardiomyopathy in your history? Valve issues? Be well!
Thank you @notasocial! My family has a history of heart attack and stroke, but not cardiomyopathy! It really surprised me!!!! I’ve had preeclampsia 3x though and they think it’s damage due to pregnancy and *could* (not will for sure) heal. I’ve been exercising and eating perfectly like crazy to try to improve my EF. It’s scary, with 3 young kids. Next cardio check in 1 month- wish me luck!!
I like what you said about accepting your body and trying to be healthy working side to side, but I also am so tired of the comments about being concerned every time an actress over what is perceived to be an acceptable size says anything that denotes confidence. These comments serve absolutely no purpose other than to keep the actress and people that look like her in a place of feeling like they are unacceptable.
We talk about body autonomy and women for everything else but when it comes to weight we feel like it is our duty to comment. Her saying it’s about how you feel doesn’t mean she doesn’t know anything about her weight, trust me she does. Stop treating overweight people like children and assuming you need to whip out the concerned face and tell them the dangers of their weight. Do you do this when a commenter says they drank a whole bottle of wine? That’s not good for them but I’m guessing you assume they have a functioning brain and can figure that out themselves.
I get it’s difficult because the natural response is to lecture, but the message rarely gets through when you come at it like that. This actress probably won’t read these comments but people who look like her will and all you are doing is furthering the belief that they are not good enough and need to be fixed. So please next time an article like this comes up can we leave the health risks out of the conversation. If someone is talking about getting healther say good for them and move on. If someone overweight talks about it being about how you feel rather than size approach it with the understanding that this person is fully aware of health risks. And if you feel you need to elaborate or correct the statement why not say something like you know a lot of health is paying attention to how you feel because if your eating badly and not moving enough you feel like crap. There is a way of doing things and pointing fingers at people shouting you’re gonna die is not it.
YES!!!^^ listen to Lofi
Yes, exactly! Like, do you guys think I just am unaware of the health concerns of being fat? I know and I’m trying to work on it and you being a smarmy know-it-all doesn’t do anything except make me wonder what you need to work on about yourself.
I agree that it’s not about size as long as you’re healthy. The goal should be to strive towards healthy bodies while at the same time show that a healthy body can be a large range of shapes and sizes. Also it’s important to educate people on why weight loss and weight gain can be difficult for people. Too many adopt a “well she should just eat less/more” kind of attitude towards body types that’s really hurtful to those who struggle with weight issues.
I actually like her character the least on the show. All she does is obsess over her weight, she’s just one dimensional and it gets very old.
I love her as an actress and she is doing the best she can with the This is Us storyline…so it’s a little weird to see messages of body acceptance coming from her, when that show is really just giving us the “Fat girl needs to lose weight” trope on a lot of levels. I think they are getting kudos for using an actual very overweight person, but not necessarily handling her storyline in a particularly sensitive or revolutionary manner a lot of times. Yes it’s heartbreaking when she has to have a seatbelt extender and the woman next to her is utterly rude until they almost die in a plane crash, but the show also had her brother use her as a circus freak show to attract his voyeuristic actress love interest to the Thanksgiving dinner : “I have a very overweight twin sister, a black brother…” etc. Like would anyone actually say that about the closest person in the world to them to get a date?
I like that they show her food issues started with her Mom depriving her as a kid, that rings true, and I haven’t seen as much of it as the U.S. so maybe at some point she calls her out on it. But the episode I just saw was when she goes with her Mom to find out about stomach stapling…and it was just really off to me. Her Mom was SO shocked her daughter ever binge ate? How clueless is she? I read that Chrissy Metz also agreed to lose weight along with her character/in keeping with the storylines, so I’m not quite sure how all of that reconciles with body acceptance and taking it at her own pace if there are external pressures to lose the weight. I just hope if she does lose a dramatic amount it’s handled remotely realistically on the show. Also, unpopular opinion: I hate Toby (ducks!).
I’m with you; Toby is unbearable. You know what’s more annoying than someone who jokes all the time? Someone who jokes all the time AND ISN’T FUNNY.
Oh so glad I am not alone, it feels like every fan of the show looooves Toby! We just had the episode in the U.K. where he had his heart attack and I’m all “Die Toby Die you obnoxious attention vacuum!” (I know he doesn’t die so I didn’t feel so bad! 😉 )
I don’t think her message is body acceptance as much as it is journey acceptance, and recognizing that it isn’t only ‘fat girls’ who connect with her character because of body issues.
I totally relate to her character’s journey (despite my gripes with the writers!), and I’m a size 12/14. And body acceptance/ “body positivity” isn’t just for girls of a certain size. I am learning about all of this stuff recently, it’s new to me. And I think it’s ok to want to lose weight but also not in a body shaming way as is the norm, I am also on that path. 🙂
You’ve made me not want to watch the show. Those storylines sound awkward and uncomfortable.
Toby is awful, so hammy and over the top.
Ha, I want to smack Toby that grin out of his face and scream “RESPECT HER BOUNDARIES FOR FORKS SAKE” half of the time. And I, too, wish her character were more than just her weight. An actual person-like fat woman would be great.
I fast forward most of her scenes because I can’t stand Toby. She’s a decent actress, so I hope they get rid of him. I liked the scenes with her and Jamie Gertz, but I guess we’re supposed to forget that job ever existed. Or are we supposed to believe that her boss is fine with her leaving a personal assistant job for months?
Yeah that was weird, they had great chemistry I thought! Toby is a bore! 😉
I’m rewatching Gilmore Girls. It has really struck me how not once so they ever mention directly or indirectly Melissa McCarthy’s weight. Her character is just a fully formed character and her story lines focus on her personality and all the aspects of her life. It’s so refreshing! I stopped watching this is us bc all this character does is talk about her weight. I respect addressing it but the show is almost makes her non human- she’s just a symbol of a fat girl. The comparison to the Gilmore Girls character is striking.
I’m a late bloomer with Gilmore Girls and just started watching it for the first time a month or so ago. I’m towards the end of season 3 right now. You’re right about them never mentioning it and I never noticed! Probably because MM’s weight doesn’t skew my view of her. She’s not “overweight actress MM” to me, she’s just MM.
I have rewatched GG many times and am currently sharing all the seasons with my husband. I loved mellisa McCarthy as sookie! As you said, she is a whole character and her weight is not her identity and I really loved that. I didn’t see her is anyhing else until bridesmaids and I was shocked and have been since disheartened at how her weight has become such a large role in her performance and presentation.
Agreed. Sooki is weird and amazing — and so are Miss Patty, Taylor, Babette, etc. However, in “Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life” there is fat-shaming: A faceless character is being called “back fat [name]” by Rory and Lorelai.
I think she is getting the right message. She is not saying that it’s okay to embrace morbid obesity. She’s saying that you have to be okay with yourself, now, as is, to move forward.
Here’s the thing – if you hate your body, you have NO incentive to take care of it. Why be decent to something you hate? You won’t. You have to be “okay” with your body in that you have to be able to say “I accept this now. I do not have to accept this forever.” I mean, I’m postpartum right now. I’m okay with my body right now, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to stay this way! But if I hate my body now, I will not have the motivation to care for it. I have to accept it as is, now.
I do hope the best for her. I’m not a viewer of This is Us, but I loved her on AHS. I admire that she’s open about trying to lose weight and how every woman, on some level, struggles with the idea that she must change something to be acceptable. That’s a universal message.
I don’t watch the show nor have I ever heard of her, but I think what she is saying is not I love myself and don’t need to change a damn thing. She is saying I love myself now no matter how I look and am working to be healthy for me. I used to be that size 0 girl who could eat anything and not gain a single pound and then I was diagnosed with lupus and the steroids and mobility issues caused me to gain weight. At first I hated my body and thought I looked disgusting. Then after having a huge health scare I relized that yes I am not a size 0 anymore but I love my body because I am still here. So you can be allowed to love your body even if it isn’t perfect.
If we could see every person’s mental issues, addiction struggles, childhood scars, self loathing and vices as plain as day every time we looked at a even just a photo of them, everyone would be judged. Bigger people have it harder, I think, because the manifestation of their particular emotional and/or health problems are physical and quite obvious.