Gabourey Sidibe has parts written for her where she’s called ‘hippo’ & ‘elephant’

Gabourey Sidibe has a new memoir coming out, This is Just My Face: Try Not To Stare, in which she reveals that she had laparoscopic bariatric surgery last year. During promotion for the book she candidly explained that she had the surgery for health reasons and that she was concerned after both she and her older brother were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Gabby was a participant on Glamour magazine’s powered by women panel at SXSW over the weekend, which focused on female filmmakers. She was candid and funny as she discussed how her size is brought up in very derogatory ways in scripts she’s sent. She said that does not reflect her day to day experiences at all. She also praised the show Girls for showing flawed characters and explained how she often has to tell white male scriptwriters that their lines are not authentic.

On scripts she’s sent
“I get a lot of scripts and offers where someone has to make mention of my body immediately. Someone wrote a script with me in mind and the first time someone other than my character was talking about my character, they say ‘this hippo’ or ‘this elephant'”

“I’m like, ‘Are you serious? You wrote something for me and you’re calling me a hippo.’ This is my body. This has been my body my entire life, and in my life my friends and my colleagues are not constantly talking about my body. But in most of my roles, somebody has to make mention of it”

She praised the writers behind Empire and Difficult People for not focusing on her figure. However, Sidibe said her body isn’t the only element about her that comes into play when reviewing scripts.

“I have had to read plenty of lines and words for my black a– that was written by a white man,” Sidibe said. “Not to say that it is not good. There is a lot that you don’t know, really. Depending on the work, I have had to check the honesty and cater it to me as a black woman. It is the actor’s job to honesty-check it.”

On Girls, which was the TV show she cited as making her see women differently
“I am pretty bad, I am probably perfectly normal, but there is a running tape of my mom in my head that says ‘why are you not nice?’ And those characters are s- right?”

[From People]

Can you imagine being told that a part was written for you and having to read really obnoxious put downs about your character in the opening lines? People think it’s fine and that she should be flattered, I’m assuming, that they wrote the character for her. I’m glad she has a voice, I’m glad she’s talking about these issues and calling out writers and showrunners, but I wish there was enough diversity across Hollywood that this didn’t need to happen. There are some strides being made, I’m thinking of Octavia Spencer’s new production company and of showrunners like Shonda Rhimes and John Ridley, but the default is still white men running everything and telling women and minorities how they should think and feel about their own experiences.

Gabby’s full interview with People Magazine has been published on their site. It’s well worth a read. She goes more into depth about her decision to have surgery (her trainer passed away from cancer and that was a catalyst for her) and her day to day routine. I really liked what she said about people concern-trolling her. She said “What angers me about what people say about my body is that they assume that they care about my health more than I do. And that is impossible. You don’t care. You only care that you have a voice, and you think your voice gets to say something about me. But I care more than anybody really knows.” About the people who put her down on social media, Gabby said “You think I’ve not heard worse than this since Kindergarten? You’re unoriginal.”

My first time at #SXSW was super fun! Shoes and dress by @torridfashion. Makeup and edges by @saradomi_makeup

A post shared by Gabby Sidibe 👸🏿 (@gabby3shabby) on

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13 Responses to “Gabourey Sidibe has parts written for her where she’s called ‘hippo’ & ‘elephant’”

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  1. PIa says:

    I love her!

    Also, I know Girls and Lena are not favs here, but I also watch that show and do like how the characters are complicated.

    • sanders says:

      I like Girls but when Lena opens her mouth and does interviews whether print or radio, I can’t with her self absorption. Even Terry Gross can’t redeem her for me.
      It’s weird because the show has more self awareness than the writers. It’s clear that we are meant to view the characters as flawed and self focused.

      I would love to see Gabourey in more roles!

  2. QQ says:

    I’m not surprised in the least.. Look at the turkeys Melissa McCarthy god bless her, has done.. that’s almost the whole schtick, Good for her for passing on that trite stuff and for making thoughtful choices, also the closing answer in that People interview LEFT ME IN TEARS How she sees her parents! oh God! This girl is just EVERYTHING

    (Related: Im besides myself at watching Girls and actually enjoying this season.. Most of the time Im the hatewatcher or to marvel at how awful they all are in such a variety of ways, but this season I watched mostly out of.. I already ate most of this turd,, but ive enjoyed it.. High Though.. is the only way)

  3. Greata says:

    Amazing woman ! I love her honesty and her grit. God…Hollywood is such a skewed reality.

  4. Loo says:

    I’ve always hated the concern trolling about her body. Good for her for speaking out about that.

  5. Yup, Me says:

    I love love love Gabourey! I hope her book does really well and that she is successful in everything she does.

  6. Cherise says:

    My worst chat show moment ever in the history of late night was when she was on Kimmel a few years ago. The anecdote was about how Kimmels dumb producer wife had pulled a “prank” on him at their wedding by sending Gabby down the aisle in a veiled wedding dress. “Hahahaha, imagine my horror when instead of my skinny white fiance, I turned to see Precious. Hahahahaha”. My God, these people. What kind of twisted bitch is Mrs Kimmel. I wish Gabby hadnt accepted that gig but I think she was blinded at being invited to the cool kids table so you play along, laugh with them and pretend they arent laughing at you.

    Anyway, I am glad to see her show so much awareness in this interview. I really worried about her after that kimmel appearance.

    • sanders says:

      I saw that Kimmel clip and had the same reaction as you. So awful. I watch Gabourey in Difficult People. It’s a good, non-stereotypical role and she is great in it.

    • ichsi says:

      What??!! What is wrong with these people?!

      • KBeth says:

        Wow, that’s disgusting. I have a healthy sense of humor but demeaning another human being…..not funny.
        I didn’t know I hated the Kimmels until I read this.

  7. Krakken says:

    Not that this is or even should be relevant but Gabourey is gorgeous. Eyes don’t lie.
    IMO she is always one of, if not the most compelling characters to watch in all her scenes.

  8. DesertReal says:

    Love her! Her talent, her strength, her perspective, her beauty, her everything.
    I can’t wait to see what else she does down the road & continues to be a force to be reckoned with.

  9. Lucy2 says:

    I love her too. I love her self confidence about her career- many people said she’d never get work beyond Precious, and she just said Nope and kept going.
    I’ve always wondered what it must feel like to be cast as a character whose looks are referred to negatively in the script.