As Kate Pearson on This Is Us, Chrissy Metz has played a woman going through a massive body transformation. Has this resulted in her having a smaller dress size?
Chrissy Metz’s dress size is a plus size 3X. However, her weight has fluctuated a lot over the years and she has worn smaller sizes before. Metz has been very vocal about her struggles with weight and views on body acceptance of plus-size actresses.
Scroll down to read more about Chrissy Metz’s weight loss journey on and off the screen since her childhood.
Chrissy Metz Weight Struggles as a Child
Growing up in Japan and Florida, Chrissy Metz was aware from a young age that her body carried weight differently. She has even said that she was born chubby.
In a 2017 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Metz said that when she was a kid all of her friends could eat whatever they wanted, yet she knew if she did she would put on a lot of weight.
She even elaborated on how this experience made her connect more with the character of Kate Pearson. Metz said that “To read those scenes can be heartbreaking because going through puberty I was like, ‘I want to be skinny like my friends. What should I not eat?’ I remember going to Weight Watchers when I was like 11.”
Further to this, when her parents divorced and her mother remarried, Chrissy ran into problems with her stepfather. In her autobiography This Is Me, Metz recalled the issues that her stepfather had with her weight.
He would often make comments about how he should put a lock on the fridge and he would watch her eat all the time. She said that he even forced her to weigh herself in the kitchen all the time when she was 14, clanging the scale on the floor and yelling “get on the damn thing!”
That’s a very rough thing to go through as a kid and it’s also something that Metz has in common with her This Is Us character, Kate Pearson.
Metz’s Wake Up Call
Despite her struggles and being categorized as a plus-size actress, Chrissy Metz was discovered in Gainesville, Florida when she was 21-years-old. She recalled the event in a 2016 interview with Glamour.
In the interview, Metz said that she had taken her younger half-sister to a casting call when she was babysitting her one day. Her sister is the exact opposite in stature. She is tall and very thin. However, when Chrissy was filling in the paperwork for her sister’s audition a woman in the waiting area told Metz that she should audition.
The woman had taught theater at Chrissy Metz’s high school and thought she would do well in the industry. Then a talent manager came out and asked her if she could sing or act and she was signed just like that.
You can watch the below video from OSSA that talks about Chrissy Metz’s weight loss and size journey.
When her manager wanted her to make the move to Hollywood they recommended she lose weight to have a better chance at getting roles.
In a People interview, Metz revealed that she had a panic attack on her 30th birthday in 2010. She thought she was dying and it made her want to shed the weight she had gained. So she ended up reducing her calorie intake to 2000 calories a day and started going on 20-minute walks. This method allowed her to lose 100 pounds.
However, Metz has gained some weight back. In May 2021, she posted a photo to her Instagram account where she is wearing a dress from Anthropologie. In the post, she said that she is wearing a plus size 3X.
Chrissy Metz Loses Weight for Roles
It has become fairly common knowledge now that Chrissy Metz’s contract with This Is Us stipulated that she would have to lose weight along with her character for the story arch. This led the actress to lose more weight. She has said that she did it because she connected with Kate’s story so much and struggled with the exact same fears.
There was one other role she played that she has said was very sobering surrounding her weight. In 2014, Chrissy Metz had to wear a fat suit to play Barbara “Ima” Wiggles for American Horror Story: Freak Show.
In interviews afterward, Metz said that it made her think about becoming that big and it scared her because she never wanted her life to get to that level. That helped to keep her committed to a healthier weight and lifestyle.