‘Dawson’s Creek’: Busy Philipps Opens up About the Fat Shaming She Experienced on the Show
Busy Philipps opened up about the fat-shaming she experienced behind the scenes of Dawson’s Creek. According to the actor, she was seen as a “problem” because she didn’t have a flat stomach like most of her female co-stars. And as Philipps reveals, her wardrobe coordinator kept comparing her body to Katie Holmes’, making her feel incredibly insecure.
Busy Philipps says her experience was completely different on ‘Dawson’s Creek’ VS. ‘Freaks and Geeks’
According to Philipps, she wasn’t used to having people criticize her body behind the scenes of a TV show. That is, until she landed a role on Dawson’s Creek. Before her gig on The WB series, Philipps starred on Freaks and Geeks. Judd Apatow, the creator of the series, kept telling Philipps that she was perfect the way she is and that she didn’t need to change herself in order to fit in with the rest of the Hollywood starlets.
But on Dawson’s Creek, it was a totally different story. Instead of being encouraged to embrace her natural body, Philipps was criticized for not looking more like the star of the series, Katie Holmes.
“I’d gotten the job on Freaks and Geeks and was fine the way I was, but clearly, the message here was a little different.”
Busy Philipps was fat-shamed while starring on ‘Dawson’s Creek’
In Philipps’ memoir, she opens up about the fat-shaming she experienced while starring on the teen drama series. While she was doing a wardrobe fitting on her first day, the lady in charge insulted her body.
“I started work the next day with a wardrobe fitting, and I also met the hair and makeup teams,” Philipps writes. “Wardrobe was really disheartening. The woman looked at my body skeptically.”
“Hmmm,” said the wardrobe coordinator. “‘I think the trick with you will be to just accentuate your chest and push up your boobs and maybe show your legs, and then just try to hide from here’-she pointed to right under my boobs-’to here.’ She pointed to right above my knees.”
“I was confused,” she continues. “There needed to be a trick? My body was a problem? I hadn’t realized that yet. I just assumed because I’d gotten the part, they wanted me the way I was.”
Busy Philipps says she was humiliated behind the scenes of ‘Dawson’s Creek’
According to Philipps, she was constantly shamed for her body behind the scenes of Dawson’s Creek. As she reveals in her memoir, she had a hard time coping off-screen because she was away from all her friends and felt depressed because of it.
“I settled into the weekly wardrobe humiliations, where I was tucked and pulled, and my body looked at with such disdain by the woman doing the costumes, all while she would talk about how ‘Katie can just wear anything you know? Because she just works SO HARD at it. She LOVES running and SPIN CLASS! I knew it was pointed. I’m not an idiot, lady. But guess what? I’m depressed and away from my friends and living in a city where I’m basically friends with two people. So forgive me that I want to eat turkey burgers and fries and drink vodka cranberries on the regular.”
