‘Gilmore Girls’ Janet Billings Role Made Katie Walder a Real-Life Fitness Buff
Gilmore Girls has had a lasting effect on many of the people involved. It remains the signature roles of stars Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel, though both have moved on to other significant roles too. It inspired Scott Patterson to launch a podcast. The show even impacted the health of Katie Walder, who played Janet Billings in eight episodes of Gilmore Girls season 4.
Walder appeared on Patterson’s I Am All In podcast on Oct. 20 to discuss her role on Gilmore Girls. She played Rory (Bledel)’s Yale housemate. Walder transformed herself for the role, and she kept up her training long after.
Katie Walder was quite different before ‘Gilmore Girls’ cast her as Janet Billings
Janet is at Yale on an athletic scholarship, so she keeps in shape. Janet gets up every morning to run. Walder said she was not very active before booking Gilmore Girls, but she wanted to look the part.
“In fact, I did not exercise,” Walder said on I Am All In. “It was like this exercise addict and yes, I’ve always been thin but I was like a skinny coffee and cigarettes in New York at the time. I didn’t know from exercise.”
Katie Walder trained for Janet Billings and stayed healthy after ‘Gilmore Girls’
Walder was a New York stage actor in the early 2000s. Her first TV role was an episode of Law & Order: SVU, which is a staple for many New York actors. So when Amy Sherman-Palladino created the role of Janet for Walder, Walder went the extra mile, pun intended.
“Yeah, I ended up getting a personal trainer because I was like I better get in shape for this role,” Walder said. “I need to look fit, not just skinny.”
Fitness stuck with Katie Walder
It’s been 18 years since her role on Gilmore Girls. Walder has done much more television including Mad Men, How to Get Away with Murder and Lethal Weapon. In real life, she has also become a mother. However, she says that ever since Gilmore Girls, she’s paid more attention to what she eats and makes it a point to exercise.
“I wasn’t the health nut I am actually now,” Walder said. “And I feel like that role actually played a big part in getting me healthy and moving to L.A. I leaned out I guess and that kind of started my journey, I became very healthy even the way I eat now. I feel like that role played a big part in changing my lifestyle, funnily enough.”
