At just 21 years old, Emma Thompson got her start in comedy, joking about the pressure for women to be thin.
Fast forward thirty five years and things are totally, completely different.
Women can look however they want on screen, and the saying “the camera adds ten pounds” hasn’t been uttered by a film professional in years, and every single shape and size is accepted as beautiful.
Oh, wait, so sorry, it actually hasn’t changed at all. It’s exactly the same. My bad.
Now 57, Thompson, who is quite frankly a bloody international treasure, has taken aim (once again) at Hollywood’s “evil” anorexia problem.
“It is evil what is going on out there and it is getting worse,” she said on Swedish chat show Skavlan.
“The anorexia – there’s so many kids, girls and boys now, and actresses who are very, very thin into their 30s, who simply don’t eat. They don’t eat,” she said.
"Sometimes there are just some subjects that you absolutely have to make noise about because it’s so tedious and it’s gone on and on."
Thankfully, Thompson is always ready and prepped with a sassy answer when someone brings up the subject of her weight in a work environment: "Sorry, do you want me to be an actress or a model?"
Bravo.
LISTEN: The Nitty Gritty Committee on when food is the "enemy".
It's a problem the actress - who has won two Academy Awards, two Golden Globes, three BAFTAs and one Emmy Award - has faced for years, and one she has always been outspoken about.
During the same interview, Thompson revealed that a female co-star on 2008 film Brideshead Revisited was asked to lose weight.
Unsurprisingly, Thompson was horrified.
"The producer said to her, 'Will you lose some weight?' And she was absolutely exquisite!" she said.
"I said to them, 'If you speak to her about this again, on any level, I will leave this picture. You are never to do that'."
Do you think there's an anorexia problem in Hollywood?
Top Comments
Emma Thompson has always been a role-model for actors and women in our dysfunctional, fashion-driven society.
From her wacky performances in "The Young Ones" to her lovely, nuanced performance as the sad but understanding wife in "Love Actually " & beyond.
Of course she's right about the horrendous pressure placed on actors to be shockingly thin. Why is that ?
Women don't look better when they're thin & gaunt - they look downright "unfortunate".
I'm not talking about those women who's bodies reflect their state of health - I'm talking about those who deliberately starve themselves.
I think that most women when they're past that age when they lose that youthful "newness" (it's an individual thing ) really suffer when they've over-dieted and have been desperate to retain that size 8 arse.
Does your arse look big in that ?........Does it matter - I mean really !
Very thin faces have no soft plumpness - and it's usually that plumpness that's so appealing........particularly to men, apparently.
I have a theory and it's a bit sinister. Those Hollywood producers/directors who insist on their actors having body-shapes that resemble 11yr olds - what's their story ? What 'd'ya reckon ?
Women should be waking up now to the way FEAR is being used by the Fashion & Entertainment / Music industries to coerce them into serving the appetites of people with deeply unpleasant agendas.
BE Emma Thompson .......be that and protect your vulnerable & impressionable younger sisters from a world of hurt at the hands of vicious creeps.
She is an absolute gem.