Actress and singer Chrissy Metz, most known for her role as Kate Pearson in the drama series This Is Us, has been open about her weight struggles. In her appearance on the podcast The Jamie Kern Lima Show, she talked about the abuse she endured because of her size as early as 12 years old.
When she was 8 years old, Metz’s parents divorced, and her mother remarried a man named Trigger. According to the actress, Trigger was physically, emotionally, and mentally abusive toward her. She alleged that he locked her in cupboards and made her weigh in their kitchen. Metz added that her stepfather never hit her in the face, but she was shoved, punched, and hit on different parts of her body if he felt she looked at him the wrong way. “My body seemed to offend him, but he couldn’t help but stare, especially when I was eating.”
Metz told the podcast host that in hindsight, the abuse she endured might have been the root of some of the struggles she has endured in her life, especially when it comes to her self-worth. Admittedly, the actress said she still deals with it to this day and always asks whether she’s worthy of relationships, work opportunities, and the other good things in her life. “Why does my weight equate my worthiness? And as a 12-year-old kid, it’s like, how do you reconcile that in your mind?”
A panic attack gave her clarity
On her 30th birthday in 2012, Metz said she experienced a panic attack that pushed her to make some changes. At that point in her life, she was an overworked talent agent who was unhappy with how her life was going. While watching a movie with her mom, then-husband, and a friend, she suddenly had difficulty breathing and felt like she was going to die. Years later, Mets said the panic attack may have been triggered because at that time, she wasn’t relying on food for self-soothing.
Ultimately, she realized she wasn’t in a good place in her life. “My body was starting to tell my mind, ‘You’re unhappy, something’s wrong.’ And then my mind started telling my body, ‘Yeah, something is wrong,’” the Metz said. She joined a 12-step program after the incident, which allowed her to process her relationship with food and how it related to the traumatic experiences she had as a kid.
“I needed to understand why I’ve been hurting my body with food, and all the things that come with that, which means all the past trauma, all my parents’ unresolved issues, all of that came bubbling to the surface at 30 years old.”
Metz worked on herself both physically and mentally. She understood herself better with the help of a therapist, and her doctor also told her to lose weight. In five months, the actress lost 100 pounds, which she did by walking 20 minutes daily and limiting her daily caloric intake to 2,000 calories. She stayed away from unhealthy food and controlled her food portions. Little by little, she gained confidence and afterward landed a role in American Horror Story: Freak Show and later, This Is Us.
Metz is still taking steps to lose weight, but she does it for herself and not anyone else. She’s proud of the work she’s done and continues to work on her mental and physical health for her to be able to do what she wants without limits.
