Are most actresses very very slim in real life?

[Mitford1789]

I saw a well known actress a few days ago, standing behind her in the queue for a coffee. She was dressed down, however was clearly very pretty in person. However I was taken aback by how slim she was. I would say she was slightly taller than average, not a tiny person if you know what I mean. But so so slim. Do you think most famous actresses/singers etc are like this? Maybe I’m very naive.

I worked with Gemma Arterton about two years ago and she wore a size 10, and is about 5'6. Slim but certainly not tiny. Unless she's lost loads of weight since then.

There a worthy discussion on this thread about the pressures of the industry, and then an underlying one.

There's a lot of mis leading information on this thread that is attempting to lead people into thinking a certain way.

Why post pictures of a famous person and state a weight 1.5 stone lighter than she clearly was, as outlined in the interview text? That's misleading.

Why bang on about the camera adding 10 pounds when it is generally due to posing rather than adding on weight to all subjects? Kids don't look like they've added significant body weight in photos. All of this is misleading.

I went to the Star Wars exhibition and saw the costumes used in the prequel trilogy. I thought the Queen Amidala outfits were mock-ups created by the designer to show what the final costumes would look like. Because no adult woman could fit into those. My 9 year old would struggle.

No - they were the real costumes, worn by Natalie Portman.

Kate winslet when the media was in at her for being fat. She was minuscule

Why bang on about the camera adding 10 pounds when it is generally due to posing rather than adding on weight to all subjects? Kids don't look like they've added significant body weight in photos.

I don't know why, but it's definitely true that the camera makes you look much heavier than you are. I assume it's something to do with the specific type of cameras they use in TV/film (I'm not techie about lenses and stuff, but I know different kinds of lenses can totally distort things - that infamous photo of the Bidens and the Carters, where the Carters look about 3ft tall, for example.)

I know I look substantially heavier when I'm on TV, than I do in stills photos.

Kate winslet when the media was in at her for being fat. She was minuscule

I wonder if some of that has to do with being naturally busty. Hollywood is really weird about female sexuality. Obv breast size has nothing to do with sexuality, but I've noticed women who are naturally more busty/curvaceous get treated differently from women with more boyish/childlike figures, even if they have implants. Like the standard in Hollywood is or used to be skinny with no curves, then bolt-on fake tits. I know actresses who had to lose weight then get implants to replace the natural boobs they lost!

I think Hollywood just hates women, and a lot of the pressure put on actresses is rooted in misogyny and desire to control women.

Jessica Simpson recently spoke out about when she was fat shamed by every news outlet the time she wore those infamous high waisted jeans on stage. The jeans were a US size 4 / UK size 8 but she looked much bigger in the photos.

Maybe some paparazzi purposefully use weird lenses that make people look fatter to photograph women on stage just so the gutter press can run with their 'female celeb is a fat bloater' coverage that they love. A PP said the difference between the slender Lady Gaga seen with human eyes from the front row of the concert and the 'Lady Gaga puts on weight photographs' from the exact same concert in the newspaper the next day were huge.

If you shoot from below, everyone looks much larger than they actually are...

I'm not sure why people are doubting that tv and film cameras make a person appear to have put on the famous 10 pounds, when it has been stated by those working in those industries since I was a child.

Britney Spears recently (or maybe not recently, can't remember) complained about paparazzi photoshopping and selectively using unflattering images to make out she's fat when she's not.

Even in the "unflattering" images she does not look fat!

Minnie Driver, imo, is an example of someone who is not naturally super slim so no surprise that she looks gaunt. She seems to have gone against her natural body size, if that makes sense. Love that photo of Kate, she looks fab. There's another gorgeous one of her rowing around the same era and she's beautiful again but smiling beatifically for the camera while her team mates are grunting and gritting their teeth to row. That is depressing too, the need to light up with a smile to be seen to be always on, which I think KM seems to be.

FrenchieFromGrease she's beautiful but no way is she a 4, I'm a 6 and look half that. I wish I weighed more btw but I do think that's not right.

I saw a picture of Victoria Beckham a while back next to her daughter who I think must have been around 8 or 9 and Victoria was thinner.

The fact that people can look at images of Kate Middleton and not see how thin she is baffles me. Angelina Jolie always looks emaciated to me too, if she didn't have big breasts people would comment on her weight much more.

@Timetopoeet

FrenchieFromGrease she's beautiful but no way is she a 4, I'm a 6 and look half that. I wish I weighed more btw but I do think that's not right.

Those jeans are a US 4, equivalent to a UK size 8. She doesn't look like a Size 8 on the picture, which just shows how distorted lenses and angles can make any woman look overweight.

@cleckheatonwanderer I agree. It is very obvious.

@cleckheatonwanderer I agree, surely it’s obvious these are unnaturally skinny women. I’m not sure what some posters here gain from claiming otherwise.

It’s also noticeable for me in some films. I can’t remember exact which film or which actress it was (great anecdote I know...) but I was so distracted by the lead actress looking so emaciated I couldn’t follow the story, and there was a bit of my brain thinking that any story about this woman would have to focus or acknowledge her extreme thinness, if you see what I mean. In the same way sometimes you sometimes just can’t buy into a film as the 30 yr age gap between the man and woman seems so unlikely.

I'm not sure why people are doubting that tv and film cameras make a person appear to have put on the famous 10 pounds, when it has been stated by those working in those industries since I was a child.

As I think a PP mentioned, I wonder why they haven't managed to invent a camera by now that doesn't appear to add weight!

As I think a PP mentioned, I wonder why they haven't managed to invent a camera by now that doesn't appear to add weight!

I seem to remember watching an interview with some band where they said when making music videos, they were given the option to squeeze the picture in by various amounts to make them look thinner.

Like the mirrors in River Island or Next changing rooms.

My old personal trainer said before a competition they would avoid water and drink lots of whiskey to further dehydrate, so that their muscle definition was apparent!

Yes, bodybuilding is not a very healthy discipline to get into! I know a woman who does it and she says she feels really unwell in the run up to a competition- it’s not good for you (as compared to other types of weight training which ARE good for you). Bodybuilding is about achieving a particular aesthetic.

Interesting that people have mention Western-centric ideas of healthy weight and body shape. I had a conversation with a friend recently about a trip she made to Vietnam. She is a very healthy, very tall and somewhat ‘Amazonian’ type of woman (she is not in any way small, but she is slim with low body fat). She said that when she approached clothes shops or market stalls in Vietnam, the vendors would shoo her away as they simply had nothing available that could possibly fit her!

I have a couple of friends who live and work in Thailand who say they worked there for a few months before they realised it was common for people to skip meals due to lack of money.

Yes Henry Cavill on Graham Norton talked about restricting water in the 2/3 days leading up to a shoot or scene where he needed muscle definition. It didn’t sound particularly healthy!

Although it is interesting that men get awards for losing weight for roles and as Tina Fey pointed out, a woman losing the same amount of weight is just considered “being an actress”.

@FleabagsGuineaPig Exactly! I imagine a lot of female actresses would read articles like this and roll their eyes, and curse the patriarchy

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.gq.com.au/entertainment/film-tv/the-story-of-christian-bales-the-machinist-transformation-is-insane/news-story/1892292672564838caf2106b38d9115d/amp

Indeed! There are a number of male actors who go against their normal body type and 'muscle up' for roles (e.g. Robert De Niro in Raging Bull & Ed Norton in American History X) or gain body fat (e.g. De Niro in Raging Bull again & Jared Leto in Chapter 27). It's relatively uncommon for a male actor to diet down to achieve an ultra lean physique for a role. As previously mentioned, Christian Bale in The Machinist; Joaquin Phoenix in Joker; Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club and Ewan McGregor in Trainspotting (Ewan apparently also considered injecting himself with heroin in order to better understand his character, but decided against it!).

Definitely!

But the grim reality of how he got there is equally as dark.
"I came up with the absolutely brilliant method of just smoking cigarettes and drinking whiskey to lose weight,” said Bale

This just sounds like a female model? Btw I love your username.

And I remember reading that Hugh Jackman dehydrated for days before filming the opening prisoner scenes in the Les Mis film. That sounds so dangerous.

Yes knittingranny he also went through an extremely strict routine during the filming of Wolverene. He did say he can't put himself through it again, it's the dehydration which is the grueller I think.