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We’re still recovering from the lies Hollywood told us by having perfectly average-sized women on our screens playing so-called “fat” characters.
It’s a truth universally acknowledged that fat characters in movies and TV are very rarely played by plus-sized actors. One of three things usually happens: a petite woman is cast in the role (and there’s no change to her appearance); a petite woman is cast in the role and wears a fat suit; or a slim, curvy woman is cast to appear larger than the other female characters. As a result, there’s a common Hollywood practice of labeling thin women as fat within the worlds of the movies they inhabit — like Bridget Jones of Bridget Jones’ Diary, in which Renée Zellweger’s supposedly larger body was the frequent punchline of jokes and disparaging comments.
These movies — and these casting choices — perpetuate the unattainable standards of beauty women are held to everywhere. Even the thinnest women who watch these movies or TV shows can begin to question their own bodies, and wonder if their thin bodies are actually “fat” too; and for fat women watching, it’s yet another reminder that truly fat bodies still aren’t considered palatable enough for the screen, even while the condition of being fat is ostensibly the subject at hand!
Back in 2013, Jennifer Lawrence spoke out about this issue. The A-List actress suggested that it should be “illegal to call somebody fat on TV,” per the Independent, and pointed out that, as a Size 10, she was considered plus-size in Hollywood.
It’s exactly this skewed standard of women in the media, where anyone over a size 4 is considered fat, that damages women’s ability to view their bodies objectively and positively. What’s more, the fact that plus-sized actors don’t play fat characters robs them of leading roles and the opportunity for the film industry to be more inclusive!
With the benefit of hindsight, it’s clear to spot characters that would never be classed as fat in real life and yet held the label in movies and TV. Read on for a list of female characters who we’ve had to endure others referring to as fat, and pejoratively at that — even though they’re far from it.
A version of this was originally published in May 2021.
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Betty Suarez in ‘Ugly Betty’
Image Credit: Patrick Harbron / © ABC / Courtesy: Everett Collection We will never forgive whoever decided to label America Ferrera ‘ugly’ and created an entire show about fat-shaming her!
While the show definitely satirizes some of the fickle views in the fashion industry and does a good job of showing how Betty’s kind-hearted nature trumps all, there are waaaay too many fat jokes in this show for it to be acceptable.
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Carmen Lowell in ‘The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants’
Image Credit: ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection. Ferrera was also done dirty in this franchise! Size was always going to play a part in a movie about a pair of pants that magically fit four best friends, but there was no need for Carmen to be treated as fat.
In The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, her friends saw Carmen objectively, but Carmen was given lines that implied she was bigger than her friends, when it simply wasn’t the case: “You think that a pair of jeans that fits all of you is gonna fit all of this?”
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Bridget Jones in ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’
Image Credit: ©Miramax/courtesy Everett / Everett Collection. Renee Zellweger famously gained 20lbs for the leading role in Bridget Jones’s Diary. In the film, Bridget whole heartedly believed she’d be a better, more beautiful person if she was thin. But at 9st 4lbs, it’s unlikely that anyone would have thought Bridget was fat if her society (mainly her mother) didn’t tell her to lose weight.
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Andy Sachs in ‘The Devil Wears Prada’
Image Credit: ©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection. The Devil Wears Prada was always going to scrutinize women’s size as it was set in the fashion industry. But Andy (Anne Hathaway) is described as the “smart, fat girl” at a mere size 6; her clam chowder is physically taken off her and she succumbs to the pressure to lose weight. It’s not exactly an empowering message for young women to see a slim woman feel the need to lose weight.
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Natalie in ‘Love Actually’
Image Credit: ©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection. Natalie (Martine McCutcheon) deserved so much better in the British Christmas classic Love Actually. Her colleagues describe her as “chubby” with a “sizeable ass” and her ex-boyfriend dumped her for having “thighs like tree trunks”. Her own family call her “plumpy”, which only reinforces the warped idea that the media has of fat women.
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Bianca Piper in ‘The DUFF’
Image Credit: ©Lions Gate/courtesy Everett Collection. The Duff was always going to be a problematic movie. But the ‘Designated Ugly Fat Friend’ is played by Mae Whitman, a slim, beautiful actor. It not only suggests that fat women can’t be beautiful, but that anyone who isn’t a size 2/4 model is a Duff.
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Gabby Soliz in ‘Desperate Housewives’
Image Credit: ©ABC/Courtesy Everett Collection When Desperate Housewives season five began with a five-year time jump, fans were surprised to see the usually glamorous Gabby Soliz (Eva Longoria) appear makeup-free and in ill-fitting clothes (all while still looking as stunning as Longoria always does).
However, after many fat jokes and the revelation that Gabby was now a mom of two, it became clear that the show was trying to imply that she was somehow overweight. We’re still not buying it!
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Betty Draper on ‘Mad Men’
Image Credit: Jordin Althaus / © AMC / Courtesy: Everett Collection In a bizarre storyline after actress January Jones’ offscreen pregnancy, Mad Men writers decided to have Jones don a padded suit and appear “fat” due to problems in her personal life.
The show went to great lengths to show Betty lounging around on a couch, struggling to zip her dresses, gorging on ice-cream and even going to the doctor for a suspected thyroid problem only to learn she has no health issues. Jones’ character even proclaims: “It’s nice to be put though the wringer and find out I’m just fat.”
The odd part was, even in a padded suit, Jones looked nowhere near “overweight” and even if she did, she’d still look great!
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Chrissy in ‘Now & Then’
Image Credit: ph: K. Wright / © New Line Cinema/courtesy Everett Collection (image upgraded to 16.8" x 11.5". The character of Chrissy played Ashleigh Aston Moore in Now and Then was commonly dubbed fat. Throughout the movie, she’s seen eating the most snacks and such, but here’s the thing: she was literally the same size as the other girls in the movie!
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London Tipton in ‘The Suite Life of Zack & Cody’
Image Credit: photo: Joel Warren / © Disney Channel / courtesy Everett Collection. So loyal The Suite Life of Zack & Cody probably vividly remember the episode “Health and Fitness” that touched on eating disorders. In the episode, a model calls London Tipton overweight in a harsh way (and calls her friend Maddie played by Ashley Tisdale stick thin), leading the girls to behave in unhealthy ways. It’s kind of insane looking back because Tisdale and Brenda Song were the same size, and nowhere near overweight at any point on the show.
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Daphne Moon in ‘Frasier’
Image Credit: © NBC / Courtesy Everett Collection. One arc that definitely didn’t age well from Frasier was when Jane Leeves’ character Daphne Moon was considered “fat.” They made a bunch of awful remarks and forced the character to go to a fat camp, when she really hadn’t gained that much weight. And here’s the kicker: Leeves was pregnant at the time?! Not exactly the best arc to put on any woman, put especially a pregnant one.
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Tai in ‘Clueless’
Image Credit: ph: Elliot Marks / © Paramount Pictures/ Courtesy: Everett Collection (image upgraded to 17.1" x 11.5". Brittany Murphy’s character in Clueless was classed as a fatter, frumpy, awkward girl even though she was nowhere near overweight.
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Connie in ‘Mona Lisa Smile’
Image Credit: (c) Columbia/courtesy Everett Collection. The media thought overweight women were those with rounder faces, including Ginnifer Goodwin’s character in Mona Lisa Smile, which is insane.
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Hanna in ‘Pretty Little Liars’
Image Credit: ph: Eric McCandless/©Freeform/courtesy Everett Collection. In Pretty Little Liars, every girl had a dark past and a secret with it. For Hanna (Ashley Benson), her backstory included merciless bullying over her weight, eating habits, and name-calling like “Hefty Hanna.” Throughout the show, and especially during those flashbacks, she was a healthy weight.
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D.J. Tanner in ‘Full House’
Image Credit: Everett Collection. During the legendary sitcom Full House, Candace Cameron Bure‘s character D.J. Tanner had many storylines based on her weight and diet. She was only a teenager, yet she was subjected to running a treadmill until she was doused in sweat and comparing herself to her friends. Throughout the show, she should’ve never been considered anything other than a thin teenage girl.
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Jan in ‘Grease’
Image Credit: ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection. In Grease, Jan is meant to be the ‘fat and ugly’ friend. Putzie tells Jan, “I think there’s more to you than just fat” when the character is the same petite size as every other woman in the film. Jan also eats throughout the film, which is meant to suggest that she’s fat — because of course thin women don’t eat.
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Kim Parker in ‘Moesha’
Image Credit: ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection. When Moesha came to Netflix fans were outraged by how much fat-shaming Kim (Countess Vaughn) was subjected to from the get-go, even from her best friend Moesha. In no world would Kim’s small, curvy frame be considered fat and it is shameful that her friends joined in.
Watch on Netflix here.
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Samantha Jones in ‘Sex and the City: The Movie’
Image Credit: ©New Line Cinema/courtesy Everett Collection. Sex and the City: The Movie landed like a lead balloon for many reasons, especially when fan favorite Samantha (Kim Cattrall) was fat-shamed at a party for having her “gut hanging out.” Samantha didn’t have an ounce of fat on her and her friend’s reaction to showing her flat stomach after she’d supposedly gained five pounds in a crop top was appalling.
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Regina George in ‘Mean Girls’
Image Credit: ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection. As a way to make Regina (Rachel McAdams) less popular, her high school frenemies in Mean Girls trick her into believing high-calorie protein bars are slimming snacks to make her gain weight. Not only do weight and popularity have no correlation at all, but Regina also remained thin throughout the movie, she was just placed in a puffer coat, kept eating, and was told she had a “fat ass” to give the illusion of weight gain.
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Miranda Hobbes in ‘Sex and the City’
Image Credit: Kristin Callahan/Everett Collection. Shortly after having a baby Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) in Sex and the City is told she has a “fat ass” and later starts to cry when she weighs herself and discovers she’s 152lbs. Miranda was far from fat, but she clearly felt a substantial pressure from society to get her pre-baby body back and yet again, no one was there to help her see herself and body objectively.
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Jacqueline in ‘Ever After’
Image Credit: ©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection Melanie Lynskey has spoken out about how she was type-cast as the “fat friend” early in her career so now we’re seriously questioning the plot of Ever After.
“I very much want to be onscreen representing an interesting person who’s not paying attention to what her tummy looks like,” Lynskey told the New York Times in 2023.
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Carol in ‘Growing Pains’
Image Credit: ©ABC/Courtesy Everett Collection After a couple of seasons of Growing Pains, Tracey Gold’s character became the brunt of jokes about her being overweight from her television brothers. What we didn’t know at the time was that Gold had gained weight while recovering from her own off-screen battle with anorexia.
Gold later revealed that she battled with severe eating disorders all through her teens and twenties.
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