Shonda Rhimes: Losing Weight Made Me Feel ‘Shallow and Misogynistic’
Shonda Rhimes tells ‘Nightline’ about losing weight. (Source: Getty Images)
In an interview with Nightline that will air tonight, Shonda Rhimes explains how her desire to lose weight made her feel “shallow and misogynistic.” The powerhouse jack-of-all-trades television producer, who created, wrote, produced, and ran day-to-day operations for Grey’s Anatomy, How to Get Away With Murder, and Scandal, is currently promoting her new book, Year of Yes, which is about how she changed her life after realizing that she never said yes to anything — she even once hired a publicist to help her avoid public appearances and decline interviews!
In the book, one of the topics of interest is weight loss. Rhimes ended up losing 127 pounds after not being able to buckle a seatbelt on a plane. “I remember feeling horrified,” she told Nightline.
Shonda Rhimes’ new book. (Photo: Simon & Schuster)
Now, of course, everyone wants to know her secret. “I realized that I work really hard in every other area of my life. Why wouldn’t I throw myself into being healthy and losing weight?” she told Nightline. But Rhimes, who has been outspoken about feminism and women’s empowerment, admitted that wanting to lose weight was not a clear goal for her. “I had a real problem with it,” she told Nightline. “As a feminist, I felt like, ‘Why am I even having this conversation with myself?’ And I would fight for any other woman’s right to be whatever size she wanted to be. It was amazing to me that I had such ambivalence about it.” For a long time, Rhimes said, she thought wanting to be “thin” felt almost anti-feminist, even “shallow and misogynistic.”
Rhimes is known as one of the most powerful women in Hollywood and media, and some have even dubbed her the “Queen of TV.” Coming forth about her struggles and strengths with honesty — and humor — is a trait that readers can look forward to in her book. Her candor is refreshing and hilarious. “It still sucks,” Rhimes told Nightline. “I’m always going to want to eat fried chicken.”
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