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Actress defends new Netflix show accused of 'fat-shaming'

Actress Alyssa Milano has defended her new Netflix show Insatiable, following an online uproar which has accused it of ‘fat shaming’.

The comedy series centres of Debby Ryan’s character Patty, an overweight girl who is bullied at high school, but who then loses weight after her jaw is wired shut.

The series synopsis describes the storyline about a girl who “finds herself suddenly thin” and as a result “Patty is out for payback against anyone who has ever made her feel bad about herself”.

Insatiable (Credit: Netflix)
Insatiable (Credit: Netflix)

“Having my jaw wired shut lost me more than just my summer vacation,” Patty says in a trailer unveiled yesterday. “Now, I could be the former fatty who turned into a brain. Or an athlete. Or a princess. No. I’d rather have revenge.”

Judgement has been swift and brutal, however.

But Alyssa, who plays Patty’s mum Coralee, has said that the show, which airs in August, shames the notion of fat shaming, rather than bolstering it.

Alyssa Milano (Credit: Netflix)
Alyssa Milano (Credit: Netflix)

“We are not shaming Patty. We are addressing (through comedy) the damage that occurs from fat shaming. I hope that clears it up,” she tweeted.

Star of the show Debby has also addressed the brewing controversy, linking to an article on Teen Vogue which says that the show is “taking aim at teenage bullying, society’s warped beauty standards, and the monsters that live inside all of us”.

Netflix has not commented on the furore but it has courted controversy in the past with teen-aimed series, notably 13 Reasons Why, which has been lambasted for glamorising suicide.

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