Calista Flockhart works so rarely in television or films, it always feels like an event when she’s actually out of the house. She’s now starring in Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, and she plays Lee Radziwell, Jackie Kennedy’s sister. She’s joined by Naomi Watts (Babe Paley), Diane Lane (Slim Keith), Chloe Sevigny (CZ Guest), Molly Ringwald (Joanne Carson) and Demi Moore (Ann Woodward). Calista recently gave a pretty great interview to Maureen Dowd at the NY Times about Feud, about being married to Harrison Ford and about life in general. She also touches on the ‘90s sh-t – all of the conversations about her short skirts and whether she had an eating disorder. Some highlights:
She would have had lunch with the Swans: “Maybe once. I felt very sorry for them. Here they are, the toast of New York — rich, jewels, apartments, houses in the country, houses in Europe. They travel all the time on private planes. They have yachts. They are dictating what is in and what is not. Underneath all that, they were very sad, very lonely and really unhappy women.”
She loved the costumes but her real style isn’t like that: “I should have lived in the ’60s, for sure…[but] I’m not going to wear a purse that says Gucci all over it, because that just seems strange. I’m also just very frugal. I have some really beautiful designer clothes, but 90 percent of my wardrobe is from Nordstrom. Just what’s comfortable, what works. I have a uniform. I switch from a gray sweater to a black sweater back to the gray sweater to a black sweater.”
On Lee Radziwell: “Truman Capote recognized that she was living in her sister’s shadow, and he would say things: ‘You’re so much prettier. You’re so much smarter. You’re more interesting. You have better style.’ She really needed to hear that. I think it made her really love Truman. He was fun, and she confided in him, like they all did.”
On all of the criticism of Ally McBeal’s short skirts: “I have a lot of distance and perspective, and I’m still incredulous. I cannot believe that I was scrutinized and pursued like that. It was intense and it was unfair.” Ms. Flockhart recalled how casually that wardrobe decision had been made: “I said to the costume designer: ‘It either has to be long or short. It can’t be in the middle, because that doesn’t make my leg look good.’ She said, ‘OK, let’s go short.’ I said, ‘Cool, let’s go short.’ And then all of a sudden there was this huge short-skirt scandal, which was really fun.”
The conversations about whether she was anorexic: “I don’t think that would ever happen today. They call it body-shaming now. I haven’t thought about it in a long time, but it’s really not OK to accuse someone of having a disease that a lot of people struggle with. It wasn’t the case, and there was nothing I could do to convince anybody or get out of it. If I had worn a big padded bra, they probably would never have been able to target me in that way. I look back at pictures, and I’m the same then as I am now, and nobody says a word now. I was an easy target, I guess. It was painful, it was complicated. I loved working on ‘Ally McBeal,’ and it just made it sour. I was very sleep-deprived and I was depressed about it. I did think that it was going to ruin my career. I didn’t think anybody would ever hire me again, because they would just assume I had anorexia, and that would be the end of that.”
She’s always been naturally small: “I honestly have never been in a situation where I have to watch my weight. My mom is 4-11 now, and she weighed 93 pounds when she was married. Talk about a little tiny elf. I just have small bones, and I just am lucky.”
Why her marriage to Harrison has worked: She mused that one of the reasons that it has worked is because she was “really content being home” as a full-time mom. “I didn’t have the same dreams at the time, so we weren’t competing with each other. We’re very independent of each other in some ways and probably incredibly codependent on each other in others.”
Her independence startled him at first. “It scares him, I think, sometimes. When I first met him, he said, ‘You are the most self-sufficient woman in the world, and I don’t know how I feel about that.’ I remember I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ Because I didn’t recognize I was self-sufficient. The other reason it works is, we’re both pretty introverted. We stay home a lot, homebodies, which is nice.”
If you go to the full piece, there’s a cute back-and-forth between Harrison and Calista about how they met (Harrison was interviewed separately). Basically, Harrison caught a glimpse of Calista at the 2002 Golden Globes and he was like “who is that??” He went over to her and tried to chat her up but she was ambivalent, but they kept talking later in the evening and he asked her out, and they’ve basically been together since their first date. She doesn’t make a big deal about “oh, I’m the wife of a Hollywood power player,” and it feels like neither of them really revel in that side of things. She’s just happy at home, raising her son and living her life. I also believe her when she says that she’s just naturally small. Some people are just fine-boned. And yes, all of those conversations about her body were gross at the time.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
-
- Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart attend the “Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny” red carpet during the 76th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 18, 2023 in Cannes, France.,Image: 777109506, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Olivier Huitel / Avalon
-
- US actor Harrison Ford leaves with his wife US actress Calista Flockhart atfer the screening of the film “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” during the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 18, 2023.,Image: 777131911, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Olivier Huitel / Avalon
-
- Kino Premiere – Indiana Jones und das Rad des Schicksals Harrison Ford mit Ehefrau Calista Flockhart bei der Deutschlandpremiere von Indiana Jones und das Rad des Schicksals im Zoo Palast in Berlin am 22.06.2023. *** Cinema premiere Indiana Jones and the Wheel of Destiny Harrison Ford with wife Calista Flockhart at the German premiere of Indiana Jones and the Wheel of Destiny at Zoo Palast in Berlin on 22 06 2023 Copyright: xEventpressxKochanx,Image: 784941147, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Eventpress Kochan / Avalon
-
- SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 14: (L-R) Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart attend the 29th Annual Critics Choice Awards at Barker Hangar on January 14, 2024 in Santa Monica, California.,Image: 837357390, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Harrison Ford, Calista Flockhart., Credit line: Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon
-
- New York premiere of FX’s ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans’ season 2 at Museum of Modern Art Featuring: Chloe Sevigny, Naomi Watts, Molly Ringwald, Demi Moore, and Calista Flockhart Where: New York, New York, United States When: 23 Jan 2024 Credit: Janet Mayer/INSTARimages.com
-
- New York Premiere Of FX’s ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans’ at Museum of Modern Art Featuring: Calista Flockhart Where: New York, New York, United States When: 23 Jan 2024 Credit: Barbara Hine/Future Image/Cover Images **NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN GERMANY**
-
- New York Premiere Of FX’s ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans’ at Museum of Modern Art Featuring: Calista Flockhart Where: New York, New York, United States When: 23 Jan 2024 Credit: Barbara Hine/Future Image/Cover Images **NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN GERMANY**
-
- New York Premiere Of FX’s ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans’ at Museum of Modern Art Featuring: Diane Lane, Chloë Sevigny, Naomi Watts, Tom Hollander, Molly Ringwald, Demi Moore, Calista Flockhart Where: New York, New York, United States When: 23 Jan 2024 Credit: Barbara Hine/Future Image/Cover Images **NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN GERMANY**
Sooo many comments about her looks over the years that folk tend to forget what a great actress she is! She can effortlessly do comedy, tragedy, intense or whimsical.
I read Maureen Dowds’s full piece – she can be snarky, but this time out it’s clear that she & Calista connected.
Errr I’m sorry but weren’t eating disorders rampant on that show? Didn’t her costar (Courtney something, from Melrose Place) talk about the body shaming and encouragement – by the show runners and other cast members – to be as skinny as possible? Like, competitions about who could be the smallest?
Am I wrong here? Or thinking of a different show?
I guess CF is “lucky” to be so thin but I think she’s talking bullshit.
You could be right. Portia de Rossi was on that show and was very thin. She has since admitted to dealing with an ED.
DeRossi wrote about being on the show in her book and overt culture of pushing to be the thinnest.
CF brushing off the whole controversy as “Well, I am naturally small framed and it hurt my feelings people said that about my body” while completely ignoring the big picture that actually WAS the issue is a shallow and self serving take.
The weight controversy brought so much attention to the show and to CF herself, I guess that is marketing though.
If this was a current show, YBYA it would still be speculated on!!
You are absolutely correct. Calista is being coy. *She* may not have had an ED, but she contributed to the culture and toxicity on set.
I remember Courtney Thorne-Smith saying the show runners wanted all of the women to be the same size as Calista. Calista isn’t being “coy”, she is lying about the pressure to be super skinny on that show.
Maybe she isn’t exactly “lying” about the pressure because she probably didn’t receive the same pressure, but it’s hard to believe she wouldn’t have known about it.
When they say that the camera adds weight to the human figure, they are NOT kidding. To look truly “thin” on camera, you probably have to be on life support. I remember running into Drew Barrymore when she was with Justin Long, in an LA Whole Foods in 2008. I was shocked at how tiny she was – a wisp of a girl! I also met Lena Dunham around 2017. Again: tiny! She’s a tiny girl! And yet onscreen, they could look very different. The camera really plays tricks that do not translate to real life. It’s no joke and it can easily cause ED for people who make a living on camera.
I remember that too. And wasn’t Portia DeRossi on that show too? Remember lots of chatter about her weight as well, was not just Calista Flockhart.
And FWIW, Harrison, come on! His second wife, Melissa Matheson, was also pretty independent and self sufficient if I recall from interviews.
My mind went there immediately. Courtney Thorne-Smith said that people were shocked meeting her in person at how small she was because she was so much fuller figured than the other actresses. At one point she went on a diet of 800 calories a day, working off 1000 calories a day, and massively slimmed down. Then she said it wasn’t worth it and went back to her regular weight. I remember this like it was yesterday.
I kind of remember that too. Calista’s physique was one thing, but the fact that all or almost all of the women on that show seemed to be either thin thin already or were pressured to be.
I totally believe what she’s saying about HER experience. Interesting that she says she was “lucky” to have small bones, be naturally small. Though I guess in our culture and particularly as a Hollywood actress that is the preferred physique that a woman is considered lucky to have
But that doesn’t mean that the show/producers did not have a warped, narrow standard for the female bodies who appeared on their show.
I think both things can be true here. ED’s were rampant with some of the actresses on that show, but I also do believe CF is a naturally thin, waifish woman. I remember when everyone was speculating about CF’s weight, and she was even on the cover of People magazine about it. At that time–this was the end part of the 90’s, the trend of Hollywood actresses being rail thin was only just ramping up. That was when people like Jennifer Aniston got on the Adkins kick, and suddenly, once healthy-looking and fit actresses started slimming down to practically nothing. It just so happened to collide with CF’s (I believe) naturally tiny frame both standing next to one another at the time.
And Lisa Nicole Carson, the actress not on the waify side on that show was always described as voluptuous or some variants of that, the code in Hollywood for obese. And always compared to Flockart, Thorne Smith or de Rossi. And guess whose figure was generally pointed as the one to aspire?
Came just to write that myself. “lucky”. Also, yes, Portia DeRossi has spoken about her bulimia.
I absolutely remember that too, and there was intense pressure to be very, very thin on that show.
I don’t doubt that Calista is naturally very tiny, but I wouldn’t be surprised if even she was told to keep herself very thin on that show.
I still forget she and Harrison Ford are married. I’m trying to image being asked out by Indiana Jones/Han Solo. I’d die.
This exactly. Just because Calista was starting on 2nd base doesn’t mean she didn’t have an extra push to reach home plate in terms of weight goals. It also says something about her mindset that being naturally very thin is “lucky.” Suggests that she still sees thin and waifish as the ideal rather than one body type among many.
ED’s were rampant on that show and many women have talked about it.
It could be a case of Calista was very small naturally and other women felt they looked large beside her.
It could be that so much was made of Calista’s body and weight – perfect for the time – that they wanted some of that recognition too.
It could have been from producers, costume designers etc. It could have been from those effected.
Regardless it seemed like a very toxic set for women to be on. The men did not have these issues.
Yeah, all of this. It’s clear now, hindsight being what it is, that Calista is and always has been a tiny woman. I have zero doubts every single other woman on that show was told they looked obese next to her, and that lead to rampant eating disorders.
I have a gigantic problem with laying it at CF’s feet, or any of the other women on the show. This was the time of heroin chic, Kate Moss, etc… Being what we know about how women are treated in 2024, does anyone actually believe ANY of the women in the cast of Ally McBeal were treated with anything resembling kindness? I am guessing there were men in charge, telling all of them they were too fat, or “don’t gain any weight, you look amazing!”, and in the case of Calista Flockhart, that was just what her body was going to do.
I have always been tall and athletic, in the 90s I was called a big boned girl. It’s always been gross, and I look back on that part of my life with anger that men and magazines piled on to ALL of us, no matter what we looked like. I was perfectly healthy for my height and age, and I thought I was obese, every single day.
It wasn’t just Ally McBeal, it was every single show at that time. Calista is an easy one to pile on, because every single other woman on the show had to shrink, to keep their jobs.
This issue hits a nerve, for me, because I am an adoptee with a Mom who is and always has been Calista sized, while I have been “big boned”. Sorry for the rant.
Calista may not have had an eating disorder but if you go back and watch the show from the beginning all of the other women shrank into nothing. It was really scary and really obvious even to those of us who were teens during the (horrible) heroin chic age.
Everyone dieted but CF herself lost weight during the show. She was super thin the first season and then went straight skin and bones unhealthy looking in later seasons.
As someone who was in HS/college during those 1997-2002 years, EVERYone EVERYwhere was trying to be as thin as possible.
The lines separating official “ED”, “disordered”, or just “elder millennial young woman” were quite blurry. We were the daughters of mothers obsessed with 1980s diet culture. If your pantry wasn’t full of fat free snacks, rice cakes, and SlimFast, you certainly weren’t like my friends or me.
Same age group and I agree. Her spin on it now (“it’s called body shaming”) does not mesh with what I remember as a teenager who watched the show. I think there’s a long road between full out anorexia/ED and healthy eating/body image. And I know many people who are naturally slim, don’t have an eating disorder, but still “watch their weight” because they wouldn’t want to become “fat.” I find a lot of the I’m-naturally-thin talk to be disingenuous especially when she calls that “lucky”
Same here. I graduated high school in 97 and was in college during this time period, and thin was in. It was not like today where more athletic bodies with booties are considered sexy. It was pin-thin and wearing backless spaghetti-strap tanks and low hip hugger jeans that showed it off that was in.
I think ‘naturally thin’ really means that this person naturally has a small appetite that enables them to get by on a very low calorie diet without being bothered. And I genuinely believe that there are plenty of people who can regularly skip one or two meals a day who don’t *feel* like they’re starving themselves because they really aren’t that hungry. But I doubt Calista Flockhart is eating anywhere in the neighborhood of a 2000 calorie a day diet.
You’re absolutely correct. I remember the interview Courtney Thorne Smith gave when she was in recovery after getting treatment for her eating disorder.
Calista isn’t being truthful. At the time they showed her before fame pictures. She wasn’t this thin. That’s one of the reasons she is still functioning. She comes from an athletic background. I believe she was a swimmer or some summer sport.
Calista has actually gained weight. Back in the day she got down to 80- 90 lbs at one point. I remember she kept getting hurt and claimed it was sports injuries but a tabloid said she was in a Ed clinic.
Capote telling Lee Radziwell that she was so much better than her sister was just his manipulative 🐂 💩. Sure, she ate it all up, but he wasn’t trying to be nice. He needed her to open up to him. It was strictly self serving on his part.
And him not being straight with her about her acting talent led to two major disasters–a TV version of Laura (!!! Yeesh…) and a revival of The Philadelphia Story with LR as Tracy Lord. Her career never recovered. https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/money-and-power/a38665742/lee-radziwill-actress-laura-movie-truman-capote/
I’m inclined to believe Calista about being fine-boned, delicate, naturally thin.
I mean, we all know Meghan, who’s all of the above plus strong, vulnerable, outspoken and, at times, guarded.
Women like Calista do exist. She has, as far as I can remember, always looked like this.
Same. I think that she’s like Zendaya who also has a very, very slim build.
I have three nieces, two take after their Dad’s side of the family and are tiny, fine boned and very slim and always have been. The other niece takes after our side of the family and, well, we’re not tiny, fine boned and very slim. This particular niece had a lot of problems throughout her adolescence as even though she wasn’t heavy, she looked big compared to her sisters. I can totally see showrunners and others in positions of power looking at the smallest woman on the set and telling the other women “look like her”.
You can search for young Calista Flockhart and see a regular-weight person.
Slim, yes — but older photos show the same for, e.g., Kate and Amal as well as Meghan herself. The difference is that Meghan does not promote the “I’ve always been tiny” or “I’m just lucky to have thin bones” fictions.
And this is not body-shaming — it’s being honest about a very sick culture that continues to destroy lives. Look at pictures of dancer and actress Vera-Ellen. She vehemently denied that she was anorexic.
Anyone who has had experience with ED knows the toolbox of deflection and deception.
I looked up old photos and am SHOCKED. I saw photos from guiding light and thought “well, that could just be some baby fat” but she was 25!!! I didn’t even recognize her.
Naturally thin does not mean you can count her vertebrae and ribs. That’s deliberate under-eating. She was definitely anorexic and scary looking for a while, and if Portia de Rossi can admit it I think Calista should come clean too instead of pooh-pooing it. It might help thousands of women out there who are suffering from anorexia and bulimia.
I remember reading a long-form profile of the sisters and their complicated, competitive relationship that Lee was usually on the losing side of … I’m sure she did need someone to tell her she was worthy and exceptional, but yeah, you are 100% right about Capote’s motivations.
Upper blephoroplasty is showing probably more than she would like it to
I think she is a very small woman and because the show revolved around her the show runners pushed the other actresses to be a similar size. That was a time (98/99/2000) when all the tv stars dropped from thin and healthy to absolutely teeny tiny. Jennifer Aniston once she started dating Pitt, Debra Messing, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Lara Flynn Boyle, etc. all became noticeably thinner within a span of a year. Calista was always that size, it wasn’t a change for her, although there was a brief time she became even smaller due to stress. I believe her that she didn’t have an ED. I’m sure she didn’t eat loads, but I don’t think she was ever going to be more than a size 2 naturally.
Thank you for pointing this out so clearly. Portia De Rossi went into organ failure. Two other cast members have detailed that the pressure on their build did, in one way or another, contribute directly to their decision to leave.
Yes, CF has a delicate frame, but the overall trend at that time was tiny, tiny, women, all claiming it was natural. Yes, for some people it absolutely is, but not most.
The overall culture at the time was focused on extreme weight loss / being as thin as possible and claiming it was completely natural and that other people were “over focused” on it.
Seeing all these tiny tiny women did have an affect on me and what was considered “Normal” and I am sure there are many other people who had the same experience.
Not sure the culture now is much different except now you have to be thin and have full, long hair, a big butt or chest, large lips, glass skin , etc and pretend that you watch your carbs, run after the kids, and magically grew an a** and new lips after the age of 25.
I don’t think the scrutiny of the skirt length was unfair as it pertained to the SHOW (it was unfair to make it personal to her). Sure, i think people need to realize that tv programs are not the most realistic portrayal of any profession, but I also remembering being quite irritated that the suits were so unrealistic.
There is a bit of a rewriting of history here. The first year of the show, no one said anything about her size. Between the first and second seasons, she lost a ton of weight. This was seemingly “rewarded” by showing more of her tiny body in those microskirts that no lawyer in their right mind would wear to the office or court. The following seasons found the other women actors also losing a ton of weight. They have ALL, with exception of Calista, spoken about how unhealthy the set was, how they were body shamed if they gained some weight and how they were constantly encouraged to get thinner and thinner. I lived through this, so I remember it vividly. The women started get disordered eating and other mental health issues.
Thank you, seconded. I forgot the degree to which one could see the change over the seasons. I guess her bones got thinner and she got “luckier”.
I didn’t remember this quite as vividly as you do so I was just looking up photos from season 1 and season 2 and she looks pretty much the same to me. It was a time when female actors were pressured to be thin but I don’t think it’s fair to say any particular actor was responsible. I certainly don’t think Calista is responsible. I’m sure eating disorders have been rampant in Hollywood for 100 years. It just became ok years later to talk about it. I’m glad Calista didnt have such a problem. Her contentment now is clearly visible, and well deserved. I wish she did more acting because she is so talented! I look forward to seeing her in the Swans.
See the Mirror piece linked below where she acknowledges that she was ‘under-eating and over-exercising’. But oh no, she didn’t have an ED like those other (less lucky?) people. Eye roll
She is not to blame, but she is responsible for how she communicates about it now. She is still oddly defensive and self-pitying, given that she presumably has many sources of confidence and contentment beyond her AMcB identity
There was also a noticeable drop in quality after the first few seasons which added to the criticism.
Ally McBeal was always a problematic character–and show. She was written as being self-centered and basically trifling. And the emphasis on looks reinforced the idea that she was Kelley’s dream ideal of a career woman.
Ally was terrible. Her whole “awkward” shtick was so annoying and a cover up that she was just a garbage pick me girl
” I just have small bones, and I just am lucky”
I don’t have small bones so I guess that makes me unlucky? Thanks for nothing Calista.
It’s 2024 and yet it’s still the last years of the last century and eating disorders are en vogue?
I’m glad they are happy, but I soured on Harrison Ford after reading Carrie Fisher’s “The Princess Diarist” – he was awful to her when they were having a ‘secret’ affair while shooting Star Wars. She was so young and he really took advantage of her – at least from her POV. It was a long time ago and people change, but it really was upsetting to read about.
Agreed.
I remember reading EDs went round that cast like flu. However, could someone tell me, was she always like this? I’m not familiar with the back story to most American celebrities, so not aware whether she ever just dipped in weight or whether it has been a constant size for her. In terms of small boned etc. I can believe this. Some people are just light. When I had anorexia to the point I wasn’t having periods and I couldn’t sit comfortably because I was down to the bone etc I wasn’t registering at overly light on the scales. I was in a very strange place with that. I talked to a dr afterwards and he said some people are just heavy; their “infrastructure” is dense., however skinny they are. Jodie Kidd, model, who was criticised for the heroin drug chic look, said throughout that period she was 11 stone and heavy.
Look at comment #10. She was always thin, but got almost skeletal in the second season of Ally McBeal. No doubt she is a small woman, but she was also pushing herself to be thinner at that time. She claims she “only” lost about 5 pounds between seasons, but the other women on the cast spoke about the relentless pressure to be thin on the show.
Thanks, Mimi. Ran back up thread and also took your comment into account. Interestingly, five lbs on someone so small is actually a significant loss.
She actually went to high school in the town next to mine, I remember a lot of photos of her resurfacing at that time when she got famous, she has always been tiny.
But I too remember there was some weight loss after the first season. I imagine a few pounds really shows on her, and it might have been the workload and stress, rather than an ED. It would be great if people had left her alone and not commented on it, but also great if the other women on the show weren’t pressured by whoever to be as thin as possible.
I remember my female classmates around that time late 90s early aughts passing out alot from being on some detox cleanse/ fasting/eating 2 bites of food per day. Eventually I just started carrying glucose, apple juice, snacks for them. I still remember how many women back then and even now equate their self worth with their body weight. That messaging and extreme diet culture being rewarded was everywhere. Life is short. Youth is passing. Spend effort on something worthwhile.
🎯
Some of you need to google her and become reminded of just how thin she was. I was 13 when she was all over magazines. Her thinness fucked me up.
She looks healthier looking now IMO.
Yes, total lack of concern for her role in damaging young girls.
‘Calista then insisted she had a “healthy appetite” and blamed her skeletal frame on “tiny bones”. Now, the 40-year-old has admitted she failed to eat enough while under pressure in the spotlight. …
“I started under-eating, over-exercising, pushing myself too hard and brutalising my immune system. I guess I just didn’t find the time to eat. I am much more healthy these days.”’
https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/calista-flockhart-exclusive-i-did-have-an-eating-problem-619679
Not her fault, but her thinness created an issue between me and some of the men in my life. She became their ideal “real woman” (they would gush and drool which was gross on its own. But worse, their attitudes shifted- one took to pressuring me about MY body, eating exercise habits to try to get me to look more like her, and 2 others went to that weird place of “woman who are not rail CF thin are not attractive to me and women who are not attractive to me cease to exist/be full people I have to acknowledge or treat with respect as human beings”
It was ugly (their attitudes and behavior).
Fortunately I eventually just distanced myself from them, because they showed me who they were but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t hurtful to be on the receiving end, or to be creeped out when one of them came sniffing around like suddenly I was a real woman after I’d lost some weight.
That all is sooo familiar. Glad you got free
Not her fault individually, but how hard would it be to address that time and say something constructive rather than the same coy BS
I didnt watch this show when it came out because I was just recovering from anorexia myself and heard the controversies regarding the women on the show. I wonder if I were to watch the show now would it still be triggering.
My grandfather’s wife is only 4’11” (likely shorter now due to age) and like 95 lbs. soaking wet and my god it is her greatest accomplishment – not being a doctor, not owning her own very successful practice, not having money to travel/socialize/buy wherever and whatever with whomever she wanted. Being thin. That is her WHOLE PERSONALITY. She was always obsessed with weight and held it over others like it made her superior. When I was twelve and visiting for the weekend, she “caught” me eating a fun size candy bar and told me “if you aren’t careful you’re going to get fat.” I ate two more just to piss her off. I’ll never forget how absolutely awful she was in so many ways, but especially I’ll never forget that particular moment in their kitchen.
I was “lucky” too. I somehow never experienced body image issues growing up. Even with that horrendous bitch in my life. I didn’t think I was pretty, but I never hated the rest of my body. Having kids fucked my head up on that. So it still affected me, but belatedly. It’s been a struggle accepting my body as it is now, but I finally made it. Just in time to walk my own teenagers through their body image issues. 🫠
I’m old and remember photos of her in a backless dress and you could literally count her vertebrae. It was scary. I’m not buying the “I’m naturally thin” crap. Both she and Portia de Rossi DID suffer from EDs, and Portia has spoken openly about her decades-long struggles with anorexia and bulimia.
Yes! The white dress! Vividly remember that one too.
Yipes, I recall that dress too. Truly disturbing…
I used to love Ally McBeal back in the day. She may have been naturally small, but some of the actresses like Portia DiRossi definitely became painfully thin as the show progressed and she herself spoke about it. This Swans feud show looks amazing with so many good actresses. Will watch it for the costumes alone.
The socialite ‘Swans’ were part of the disordered eating culture. Wallis Simpson had said ‘You can never be too rich or too thin’. Nan Kempner inspired Tom Wolfe’s phrase ‘social xray’ in Bonfire of the vanities.
Nope. Not buying it. You can see every bone in her chest. Every bone in her back. This is not lucky. This is not eating.
Totally. Naturally thin doesn’t mean that she eats like everyone else and doesn’t put on weight. It means that she has eaten much less for so long that it’s “natural” to her.
“Lucky” to be thin is a real tell.
That “I’m just lucky” comment is … really thoughtless.
Having small bones does not equal being small. I am “small boned” and far from tiny. My sister takes after my father’s side and has large bones. I can outweigh her by 20 pounds and still look thinner.
That was a terrible interview. I agree, very telling that she used the term, “lucky”. So disappointing in 2024. I’m 46 and watched Ally a lot. Remember when Julianne Moore said that she was always hungry, every day? None of these women owe an explanation, but I appreciate the honesty.
CF was the fiancée in The Birdcage with Nathan Lane and Robin Williams years before Ally McBeal just look at her face – she looked completely different. Thin and fine boned yes, but so thin she looked unhealthy no.
All shapes and sizes are great, but I think the fact that she calls being naturally thin and small-boned “lucky” is very telling. She clearly thinks it’s better. Many would disagree.