Yahoo Lifestyle Kristin Davis Just Recalled The Horrifying Time Her TV Costar Let Slip That Producers Weren't Happy With Her Weight
This article mentions behavior and comments that may be triggering for people struggling with body image.
While Kristin Davis is undeniably best known for playing Charlotte York in the hit sitcom Sex and the City and its sequel series And Just Like That…, she actually got her big break in another show entirely.
Kristin was 30 years old when she landed the role of Brooke Armstrong in the US soap opera Melrose Place, which followed the lives of a group of beautiful young adults living in Los Angeles.
And in a new interview with People, Kristin has opened up about the troubling pressure she faced to look a certain way during her time on this show — with the actor even hearing from her costar that producers weren’t happy with her weight.
Sharing what ran through her mind when she was first cast as Brooke, Kristin said: "Every single person was gorgeous and super skinny, so I was like: ‘This is what I have to do.’”
The star went on to explain that she hired a running coach and would also do back-to-back-90-minute spin classes, and was left “frustrated” when she felt as though her efforts weren’t paying off.
“I’m sure I wasn't eating; I have no idea. I don't remember the eating part,” Kristin added, saying that she “fainted in a parking lot one time.”
“Sometimes I couldn't remember my name. It was a lot,” she went on.
And while Kristin was risking her health to meet dangerous ideals, she recalled hearing from her costar Thomas Calabro that the Melrose Place producers had a problem with her size.
Discussing Calabro, she told People: “He's like: ‘Kristin, I'm so happy to see you here! I just wanna tell you, you know, I think you look great,’ and I'm like: ‘Oh, thank you. What are you talking about? What do you mean?’”
“He said: 'Oh, I know that the producers are really stressed, you know, but I just think it's amazing that we have a woman who has curves,’” Kristin then revealed. "'I just think they shouldn't, you know, put too much pressure on you.' And I'm like: 'What?'"
“I go to the line producer, and I'm like: 'Thomas Calabro just told me that you guys are stressing about my weight. Did someone say something? Did Mr. [Aaron] Spelling say something?’” she recounted. “And he was like: ‘We think you look beautiful,' and I was like: 'Yeah, and?' He goes: 'Just don't gain any weight.'"
She went on to add that, sadly, this kind of behavior was “just normal” back in the ‘90s.
"It was normal for a long time,” Kristin said. “There was a lot of stress. If you had hips, it was a situation."
Kristin left Melrose Place after just one year because producers decided to kill off her character.
But in 1998, her fortune changed when she was cast in Sex and the City, and the rest, as you know, is history.
The National Eating Disorders Association helpline is 1-800-931-2237; for 24/7 crisis support, text “NEDA” to 741741.
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