Acclaimed actress Octavia Spencer has a lot to be thankful for now that she’s won both a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild award for her role in the box office hit The Help. But while backstage at the SAG ceremonies on Jan. 29, Spencer explained that it’s not all rainbows and butterflies in her world. One thing she is concerned about is her weight.
“I am not healthy at this weight,” Spencer admitted to People. “Any time you have too much around the middle, then there is a problem. [And] when you reach a certain weight, you are less valuable,” the actress said referencing the longstanding image issue plaguing larger women in the entertainment industry. But it’s not just plus-size women who must deal with physical ideals and body image issues. Spencer explains that thinner women also suffer under the weight of society’s pressures to have the ideal thin body type.
“I feel for the overly thin women as much as I do for the overweight women. It … has to change,” said Spencer.
Though Spencer wants to shed some of those unhealthy extra pounds, she does joke that it wouldn’t hurt if women on the other end decided to add a few pounds to their frame.
“If more women ate, they would be a lot happier,” she said. “Let me tell you, I am a lot grumpier when I don’t eat.” Well, below is a list of Hollywood women who’ve found a healthy weight and relationship with food. –nicholas robinson
