For women in Hollywood, weight is a hot topic.
But even if they're loving on their curves, it can be frustrating when weight impacts
quality of life.
For a variety of reasons, plus-sized celebs have made big transformations.
From Shonda Rhimes to Oprah Winfrey, these stars put in real work to drop those extra
pounds!
Shonda Rhimes
TV producer and author of Year of Yes, Rhimes spent a year saying yes to things she'd usually
say no to.
And one of those things was good health.
Her eventual weight loss of over 125 pounds was what she called a "byproduct" of saying
yes, as well as an epiphany she had in the process.
She told Oprah:
"I work my butt off at work.
I work really hard to be a mother.
I work really hard at everything.
Why do I think losing weight's supposed to be easy?"
And she was more than candid about her strategy for her new lifestyle.
"I just changed everything I ate — and I hated all of that — and then I hate exercising
and I did that, too.
I hated that the whole time."
All that work so she could be her best for her adorable kids.
Would you expect anything less from ShondaLand?
Melissa McCarthy
Making people laugh for years on Mike & Molly and in movies like Bridesmaids and Spy, as
well as SNL, Melissa McCarthy has been called a "role model" for plus-sized women.
But McCarthy claims that status doesn't quite fit her reality, saying,
"I don't know any perfect women.
If I, off the top of my head, name 20 of the most amazing women in my life, it's all shapes,
sizes, ages, colors, jobs."
The Ghostbusters star has lost what In Touch estimates to be over 75 pounds, although McCarthy
hasn't revealed the exact number.
When asked about it, she told Refinery29,
"If that is the most interesting thing about me, I need to go have a lavender farm in Minnesota
and give this up.
There has to be something more."
In 2014, McCarthy launched a fashion line for women of all sizes, Seven 7.
Kirstie Alley
Actress Kirstie Alley was in denial about her weight until the media pointed it out
to her.
"I didn't know how fat I was.
I mean thanks to the tabloids I found out how fat I was.
I really didn't know."
Ultimately, Alley lost 75 pounds, and kept a promise she made to come back on Oprah — in
a bikini.
After then ditching Jenny Craig, it was only a matter of time before Alley gained all the
weight back, and more.
She would find her way back to Jenny Craig in 2015.
Alley told People, "I love that you have a consultant.
It's like being an athlete.
No athlete is going to do well without having a coach.
We have to equate that to life."
By 2017, Alley had lost a total of 50 pounds, and has kept it all off.
Wendy Williams
Talk show host Wendy Williams has struggled with weight all of her life.
She told People,
"My first diet was in the first grade!
Tuna fish and mustard with yogurt on the side.
Weight was a big thing for me to overcome."
The host has gradually shed 50 pounds over three years and kept it off.
Her biggest tip?
Slow and steady is the name of the game.
How about that?
It's not going to happen overnight.
I no longer believe in fad diets, crash diets…
I don't want my heart to race and pop out of my chest."
​Lena Dunham
Actress and writer Lena Dunham doesn't equate skinniness with her own worth, posting on
Instagram in 2017,
"I feel I've made it pretty clear over the years that I don't give even the tiniest of
s---- what anyone else feels about my body."
Dunham's worked out with celeb trainer Tracy Anderson, but it wasn't to improve her image.
At the time, she told Anderson, "I have endometriosis, I have chronic physical pain, I just want
to feel stronger.
I just want to have a stronger core, I want to feel like I have more power throughout
my day, how do I get there?"
Dunham lost weight in 2017, thanks to her healthier lifestyle, sharing with Ellen about
how she then was trolled for it.
"Suddenly I got all these people being like, 'You're a hypocrite!
I thought you were body positive!
I thought you were a person who embraces bodies of all sizes!
I do, I just understand bodies change."
Rosie O'Donnell
After struggling with weight all her life, comedian and former talk show host Rosie O'Donnell
said it was a heart attack that caused the then 50-year-old to consider gastric bypass
surgery.
O'Donnell had the procedure in 2013 and started to lose weight.
But she acknowledged that weight loss doesn't automatically equal happiness.
She told Dr. Oz:
"It's not like all of a sudden you change and, boom, you lose the weight, everything's
fine, you got on a size 10, life is great.
You're having amazing sex.
Nothing is wrong.
It doesn't work that way."
By 2016, O'Donnell had lost over 50 pounds, according to People.
Jennifer Hudson
Singer turned actress Jennifer Hudson is known for her 80-pound weight loss nearly as much
as she is for her Oscar-winning performance in Dreamgirls.
She initially started to lose weight for the title role in the 2011 film Winnie Mandela,
telling People,
"Whatever it takes to morph into the character, I'll do it.
I wasn't going to starve myself for anyone."
Hudson first hired celeb trainer Harley Pasternak.
Then she started doing Weight Watchers.
In 2014, when she stopped doing the ads for the company, she said,
"My experience with Weight Watchers has truly been life changing.
I am grateful for what I have learned throughout the process and will always take it with me."
Gabourey Sidibe
Since she rose to fame in 2009's Precious, Gabourey Sidibe has seemed very comfortable
in her own skin.
But when she found out that she had type-2 diabetes at age 32, Sidibe knew she had to
change her life.
She quietly got bariatric surgery in 2016 and has been on a wellness journey ever since.
Keeping her weight loss tally a secret, Sidibe explained why she opted for surgery, telling
People,
"I truly didn't want to worry about all the effects that go along with diabetes.
I genuinely [would] worry all the time about losing my toes."
Ricki Lake
Actress and former talk show host Ricki Lake shot to fame in 1988's Hairspray.
She told ABC News,
"Being fat worked, and I think that was what was confusing for me for a long time in my
career."
When she reached 260 pounds and her acting roles dried up, she decided to make a significant
change.
Lake still battles her weight, telling Oprah in 2015, she loves how she feels, but wants
to be a healthy role model at any size:
"I love telling the world!
At the same time, I felt like I was perpetuating this obsession that we have with weight.
It's, it's like You're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't."
Oprah
The billionaire talk show mogul has been living her best life for decades.
But Oprah revealed her ongoing struggles with weight, in her 2017 cookbook Food, Health
and Happiness, citing a "powerful need to please everybody on a never-ending basis"
which led to weight gain.
In 2015, Winfrey bought a share of Weight Watchers and started changing her thinking
about food, for good.
She told People in 2017 that she'd lost 42-and-a-half pounds with Weight Watchers, saying, "I finally
made peace with food."
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