The body double for Gwyneth Paltrow’s plus-size character in the 2001 comedy “Shallow Hal” says she developed eating disorders and was practically “starving to death” in the years after the movie came out.
In the movie, Jack Black’s title character falls in love with Paltrow’s character Rosemary after he’s hypnotized to only see a woman’s inner beauty, so while everyone else sees a morbidly obese woman, he only sees one who looks like the real Paltrow.
While Paltrow also played the overweight version of the character in the movie by donning a fat suit, Snitzer’s body was used for closeups of Rosemary’s arms, torso and thighs. According to an interview she did with The Guardian, she enjoyed being part of the filming and praised Black and Paltrow, but the movie’s financial success had a reverberating effect on her. She was only 20 when it was released, and she says one producer admonished her for losing weight during filming.
“It didn’t occur to me that the film would be seen by millions of people,” she told the outlet. “It was like the worst parts about being fat were magnified.”
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“Less than two years after Shallow Hal was released, she was ‘technically starving to death,'” The Guardian reported. “In 2003, she had gastric band surgery, which reduced the size of her stomach and restricted what she could eat. But shortly after the procedure, the band slipped, ‘and I got a torsion – like dogs get and then die.’”
Gwyneth Paltrow has said she regrets being part of the 2001 comedy “Shallow Hal.” (Steve Granitz/WireImage)
“I was so thin you could see my teeth through my face and my skin was all grey,” she told the outlet. “And I was just so b-tchy all the time. I kind of alienated a lot of my friends. My mother was also dying; it was bleak. Humans shouldn’t have to experience how very bleak that particular time in my life was.”
Snitzer said when filming ended, she became committed to the idea of being a “good fatty.” An aspiring comedian, she said she only got offers for roles she felt were “mean.”
“I hated my body the way I was supposed to,” she said. “I ate a lot of salads. I had eating disorders that I was very proud of.”
The Guardian reported after her surgery, she continued to exercise excessively, purge and restrict her calorie intake.
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She suggested that she didn’t expressly get the surgery due to the movie, although she admitted it may have played a role.
“I’m sure I wanted to be small and not seen. I’m sure that’s there, but I don’t ever remember consciously thinking about it,” she said.
The Farrelly Brothers-directed movie aroused controversy at the time, with critics saying its inner beauty message was clouded by making fat people the butt of jokes. Nevertheless, it was a box office success and continues to be shown on television decades later.
Paltrow, however, regrets taking the part. In a Netflix interview in 2020, Paltrow said it was her least favorite performance, calling it a “disaster.” She also has said she “felt humiliated” when she first donned the fat suit for the part.
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