Chrissy Metz's character Kate on This Is Us has taken (and considered) serious measures to lose weight, including going to a "fat farm" and looking at the option of getting a gastric bypass. In real life, Metz, who talks often about her own health and body positivity journey, takes a less drastic approach. But that doesn't mean she would say no to an opportunity like The Biggest Loser.
In a new interview with Marie Claire, the star opens up about her current desire to lose weight and her lifelong struggle with body image. She went to Weight Watchers for the first time at age 11 and gained over 100 lbs in her 20s from turning to food when feeling depressed from a stalled acting career. "I eat my feelings — when I'm happy, when I'm sad," she said. "I can't tell you how many times I've tried [to lose weight]."
And while Metz said she doesn't "worry about numbers" — she doesn't know how much she weighs at the moment — she does have an open mind about joining TV's most popular weight-loss reality show. "I would love to go on The Biggest Loser, where it's a concentrated thing," she told the magazine, which notes how's Metz's family history of health problems tied to being overweight might be part of why she'd consider taking that route. "My father is a big guy; he's had a quadruple bypass surgery, and that's scary. Those are real things that happen in families with overweight people, and I don't want that," she said.
Metz made a point of clarifying that her desire to lose weight is a personal decision, not a career one. "I do want to lose weight," she said, "But not because anyone is telling me to do it." Last year, Metz seemed to say otherwise, stating that her This Is Us contract stipulated she lose weight. “In our contract, it did state that [losing weight] would be a part of it, to lose the weight in the trajectory of the character as she comes to find herself. That was a win-win for me," she told TV Line. She later walked back her comments.