"'We pay you a lot of money to look good.'"
It isn't a secret that Hollywood can be a tough town to navigate for an actor or actress. And in the case of Star Trek: The Next Generation icon Marina Sirtis, certain producers on the television show’s production (1987-1994) actually had the gall to accuse her of being “fat.” Sirtis addressed the issue while on this year’s Star Trek cruise. She said (per TrekMovie.com):
“I know this doesn’t happen in Hollywood anymore, because I look at the new Star Trek shows and there are women of every shape and size as there should be. But I used to get the calls, ‘Do you want the good news or the bad news?’ I was like, ‘I don’t care, what?’ And they’d be like, ‘Okay, the good news we watched the dailies, your work was fabulous.’ ‘Thank you.’ ‘The bad news is you look fat. We pay you a lot of money to look good.’”
Sirtis, who played the USS Enterprise-D’s counselor, Deanna Troi, and clearly wasn’t overweight in any of TNG’s seven seasons, continued during the same sit-down by saying:
“That was Hollywood in the ’90s, and actually, to be honest, MeToo has changed some [of it]. What MeToo has changed is that they don’t put their hand up your skirt anymore, right? But what hasn’t changed in Hollywood is their attitude to women, because watch TV, watch network TV, the men can get as fat and as ugly as they like, and the women are all skinny and gorgeous and usually blonde, so it hasn’t changed. It’s just the actual assault part has gone away.”
Today, toxic parts of the fandom still criticize thespians for their weight, even if Hollywood doesn't — I'm not sure I believe that, though. Nevertheless, I can't count how many derogatory remarks about actors and actresses being "fat" were left in the comment sections of the Redshirts Always Die social media channels by so-called fans and haters, whenever I posted stories about certain members of the Starfleet Academy cast.
And I still can’t believe someone involved with The Next Generation’s production all those years ago actually thought Marina Sirtis was fat. However, let’s talk about her comments regarding Hollywood today versus four decades ago. Do you believe body shaming has truly improved throughout the film and television industries because it certainly hasn't among certain segments of the fandom.
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Live long and prosper, Trekkies!