Between her role as Kate Pearson on This is Us,
her cinematic portrayal of real-life mom Joyce Smith, and her inspiring music career,
Chrissy Metz is dominating her industry. After years of paying her dues and truly
learning to love herself, here's how far she's come — and where she's headed next.
Metz was born in Florida, but spent the majority of her childhood in Japan since
her father was stationed there for the Navy, according to Glamour. When she was 8 years old,
her parents split, and mom Denise moved the kids back to Florida, where she eventually remarried.
But while Chrissy now describes her family with a bit of sentimentality,
her childhood was filled with drama. The actor told Marie Claire that her mother enrolled her
in Weight Watchers when she was just 11 years old, and that her stepdad forced Chrissy to
do weigh-ins, and bullied and abused her. She wrote in her 2018 memoir, This Is Me,
"My body seemed to offend him, but he couldn't help but stare, especially when
I was eating. […] [My] mother was always at work, so she didn't see how he treated me."
"You know, it's important to talk about it because so many people who experience these kind
of traumas don't know how to talk about it." Metz may now be worth an estimated $7 million,
but the actor hasn't always been rolling in the dough. After her parents split,
she told Yahoo that her mom did everything she could to put food on the table, as a single mom.
"When you're twelve, thirteen, going through puberty, you're like,
'huh?,' you're just trying to figure out what you're gonna wear to school."
Thanks to her humble upbringing and her first job at McDonald's, Metz learned the value of
a dollar at an early age. Making $4.25 an hour behind the counter, she originally got the job
because she wanted to buy a pair of shoes her family couldn't afford. She told the outlet,
"My mom's like, 'We're not spending a hundred dollars on a pair of tennis shoes.' I'm like,
'Oh, you might not. But I will!'"
It was that thriftiness that helped Metz survive for years in L.A.,
where she was unemployed, with only 81 cents in her bank account when
she booked her role on This is Us in her thirties, according to Glamour.
"What was it like now, to suddenly have money? It's weird."
But it would be a long road before she would land the role of a lifetime.
After scoring a manager, Metz was ready to take on pilot season. But her big break didn't come
quite so easily. According to Marie Claire, Metz worked as her manager's assistant in 2006,
eventually becoming an agent herself because she couldn't find roles for plus-size actresses. While
Metz scored the odd part in TV shows like Entourage, All of Us, My Name is Earl, and
films like The Onion Movie, her weight tended to dictate her character. She told Chubstr in 2015,
"I would like to think talent 'weighs' out,
but plus size actresses are still typically the butt of the joke in the storyline."
"I mean I've heard a lot of things and one in particular was,
'You're just too pretty to play the big girl.' What does that mean?"
For Metz, working as an agent and landing roughly one audition over
the course of a year wasn't the reason she moved to L.A. Still, she persevered,
finding a community with other plus-size actresses struggling to find work. She told the outlet,
"I think [being a curvier woman in Hollywood] is challenging for anyone in this business,
in front of or behind the camera. For the record, I've lost weight, [and]
have been told I was too heavy for roles." Living with her biggest dream just out of her
reach, Metz was struggling through her twenties. As depression began to take hold of her spirit,
she admitted to People that working as an agent while struggling to be an actor…
"Was like watching your boyfriend take another woman out every day."
After gaining over 100 pounds, Metz had a panic attack in 2010,
on her 30th birthday. She explained to the outlet,
"I'm like, 'What is this? Am I dying? What's happening.' […] I'm like, 'Oh, this is not just a
physical thing. It's like a soul/spirit/mind/body collective thing. Not everything's connecting.'"
"I mean, I can laugh about it now because it was really scary. Really,
really, really scary, cuz you don't know what's happening."
Metz set out on a path to lose weight, face her feelings and
find her spiritual footing again. She explained to Marie Claire,
"When you do put the food down and those feelings come up,
you're not being numbed anymore. You're like, 'I got to deal with this.' That is hard."
"It's always, like, 'Oh, you're not enough. You're not smart enough. Oh,
you're not this, or you're not that,' it's never like, 'You are wonderful.'"
After her 30th birthday,
Metz turned to spirituality where she finally found some peace, telling People,
"I realized that […] at the core of who we are, we're these perfect
beings — and we're not taught that." Metz found love in the City of Angels,
but it wasn't meant to last forever. After several years in L.A., Metz married British journalist
Martyn Eaden, in 2008. But the two called it quits in early 2013. Metz explained in her memoir,
"I was trying so hard to get ahold of my relationship with
my body and break my habit of eating my emotions and of equating food with
sharing love. […] I didn't know how to spend time with Marty without using."
"He's an angel from the heavens, but I knew that wasn't right and he knew it wasn't right.
And I don't think, if we were together, that I would be in this position."
According to Radar Online, Eaden filed for divorce in 2014 and it was official
the following year. For her part, Metz explained in her book that she remains
friendly with her ex and does her best to maintain good vibes between them.
"You see her? This is Barbara. Though I have given her the stage name of Ima Wiggles."
In 2014, Metz found herself acting alongside legends like Kathy Bates and Jessica Lange
in American Horror Story: Freak Show. Metz portrayed Barbara "Ima Wiggles," a sideshow
Fat Lady who falls for Evan Peters' character Jimmy Darling. Metz explained to Yahoo in 2014,
"Ima is a big ol' adorable innocent girl who just wants to belong and
be around people who treat her like she's normal."
"They were like, 'We have to fit you for a fat suit.' I was like, 'What?!'"
Although Metz's size helped her score the role, she was overjoyed to be asked to wear
a fat suit for the character — a first for the actor. Ima's storyline also allowed her
to chart more emotional territory than her past roles had allowed. She shared with Chubstr ,
"Not only was Ima accepted into the freak family, but she accepted herself,
first. It was […] refreshing to see a big girl who was attractive, and dare I say, sought after."
Metz was initially discouraged when her series regular spot on American Horror
Story didn't immediately lead to something bigger. But her patience paid off big time
when she landed an audition for This is Us. After reading the script,
Metz told Glamour that the role of Kate Pearson instantly felt different. She said,
"I remember reading the breakdown and thinking, 'I want this.' 'This is me.'"
"Tell me to lose the damn weight. You wanna say that again? I'm gonna lose the damn weight."
Although she felt like she, quote, "bombed the audition," Metz had barely made it to
the parking garage when she got the call from series creator Dan Fogelman
saying the role was hers. She recalled to Marie Claire,
"They said, 'We just wanted to tell you you're our girl.' I said,
'I'm gonna pee my pants!' They laughed. I told them 'You've hired a classy broad.'"
"I was like, what?! What, are you kidding me?"
Metz's character is candid about her weight loss
journey and its effect on her self-esteem and relationships throughout the story.
Having weighed herself in her underwear on the very first episode, she told Glamour in 2016,
"You don't see women of that shape that exposed — mentally, emotionally, and physically. I thought,
'This is my chance to give courage to the men and women who go through that
every day when they step on the scale.'" Metz's life completely changed when This is
Us premiered in 2016. The intergenerational drama quickly became a hit, with the network renewing it
for six seasons. Following the lives of Kevin, Kate, and Randall Pearson and their parents, in
present-day and through flashbacks, the series has been revered by critics for its heartwarming and
often tear-jerking storylines. For Metz, that's the show's appeal. She explained to Marie Claire,
"It's one of those things I believe everybody needs right now — a cathartic
cry or a laugh. [It's] really a raw and vulnerable portrayal of a plus-size woman."
"I just know personally that so many things that I've gone through have led me to this moment."
"And, um, I'm so glad that it wasn't the way I planned it."
But it's not just the fans who have fallen for Metz on the show. In 2017 and 2018, she earned
Golden Globe nods for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film.
She took home her first acting trophy with the rest of the cast in 2018 for Outstanding
Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series at the Screen Actors Guild Awards — a feat they
stealthily repeated the following year. Kate Pearson's weight loss journey might be
a big storyline on This is Us, but Metz has been outspoken about her personal body goals
and how they're independent of the characters she portrays. While she told People that she discussed
her character's dieting with NBC when she signed on to play Kate, she explained to Marie Claire,
"Nothing is mandated. It's not like, If you sign this contract you have to do this.
We haven't even talked about an actual number with Kate. Ever."
Metz presented a different side of the coin with her role in Netflix's 2018
teen rom-com Sierra Burgess is a Loser. As Trish,
the obsessive mother of popular mean-girl Veronica, Bustle described Chrissy's role as…
"A little-discussed, harmful side to internalized fatphobia. [Trish] might
think she's helping her kids, but by obsessing over their bodies in the hopes of stopping
them from having the same body image issues she has, she's actually causing more harm."
"Are you sure you don't have any real food in this house? No. You don't eat junk at your
age. You'll make lifelong fat cells that'll ride your hips like a cowboy rides a buckin' bronco."
But regardless of the characters she plays,
Metz has her head on her shoulders, off-screen. She told Glamour in 2016,
"I don't find my identity in my weight, I'm so much more than the weight I carry on my body.
I don't really care what people say, if it's plus-size or even if it's fat or
she's a [big beautiful woman]. It's really how you choose to perceive it, just like life."
Metz made her big screen debut as Joyce Smith in 2019's Breakthrough,
portraying a mother whose son is pronounced dead after a tragic accident — but after she
prays for him, he comes back to life. Based on a true story and book penned by Smith herself,
the film was nominated for Choice Drama Movie at the 2019 Teen Choice Awards.
"Please God, send your Holy Spirit to save my son."
Metz, who identifies as Christian, said that working on the film required her to
dig deep into her own spirituality. Recalling how she prayed following
her own mother's sudden stroke in 2017, she explained to The Christian Post,
"Going through personal experiences with my mother and her medical emergency,
it was like a no-brainer, how can I not be a part of this."
She later wrote in an essay for the Christian outlet Guideposts, sharing,
"I was so glad to play the part of [the] movie mom
in Breakthrough [to show] the world what resilience can do."
"You can't deny that something miraculous happened."
After showing off her singing chops on This Is Us,
it was only a matter of time before Metz dipped a toe in the real life music industry.
"You have an amazing voice, by the way. I did not know that you sang. Well,
I did not know that you spy on people in the bathroom."
She performed "I'm Standing With You," by the legendary Diane Warren for the Breakthrough
soundtrack, at the 2019 ACM Awards. The track also earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original
Song in 2020, and Metz delivered a show-stopping performance at the ceremony. A few weeks prior,
she also scored a record deal with Universal Music Group Nashville, according to CMT.
"Oh hi, I didn't see you there. Weird. Just at the Grand Ole Opry."
Metz released her first two singles "Talking to God" and "Actress" in 2020. And as for her sound,
the budding songstress explained that while she might lean toward country, she's pulling from
many different influences. Her hope is that her upcoming debut album reflects that, as well.
While Metz's star didn't really take off until she landed on This is Us, years of perseverance and
self-love have primed her for an expansive career where she's already making a difference. The actor
partnered with Walmart in 2020 to highlight their plus-size selection, telling StyleCaster,
"As a plus-size woman, I didn't really have somebody to look up to."
"I think the difference between 'like' and 'love' is the perfect fit,
which is exactly why I love ELOQUII." And though it looks like This is Us is
set to end wrap with Season 6, Metz told the outlet she's still holding out for a possible
spinoff. But no matter what, between finding love again with her boyfriend, Bradley Collins,
and her burgeoning music career, it's clear that Chrissy Metz is just getting started.
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