We're fighting a stigma: fat. People are really scared of fat. And I think we need to change people's minds and show that you can be bigger and you can be beautiful just as you are. It's about being and loving yourself and once I discovered that, life got much easier.
To call yourself 'plus size' is just a euphemism for being fat. Life is much easier when you're thinner. Big is not beautiful, of course a job comes down to how you look.
I think the media in general hasn't been very kind to fat women or fat people. We see so many insensitive portrayals of plus-sized people. That kind of stuff really affected me - not even necessarily the portrayal of fat people, but the absence of fat people.
People always had something to say about the fact I was odd looking, bigger than other people, that I was awkward. When I discovered punk, I bought into it. That look, combined with being fat, made me even less of what people thought a young woman should be.
When I describe myself as fat to people, whether it's a driver, anywhere around the world, or a friend, and I'm like, 'Oh, it's just because I'm fat,' people are like, 'Don't say that about yourself.'
Most people are just fat and because most bodybuilders juice, they can get away with eating what they want and just monitoring calories. It's a horrible misconception and often sends people down a path of fat gain that might ruin their motivation and drive. Fat cells never go away once created.
When I say a girl like me, I bet you think I'm just talking about being fat. How dare you fat-shame me? You think I'm talking about being black? Racist. What makes you think I'm not talking about being smart? What? You don't think a fat, black girl can be smart or something? Fat-shaming racists like you make me sick.
You can be fat and love yourself. You can be fat and have a great damn personality. You can be fat and sew your own clothes. But you can't be fat and healthy.
Being fat is the absolute nadir of the misfit. You're a misfit because nothing fits. You don't fit in. You're not fit. You're fat. Fat doesn't have the poetic cachet of alcohol, the whiff of danger in the drug of choice. You're just fat. Being fat is so un-American, so unattractive, unerotic, unfashionable, undisciplined, unthinkable, uncool. It makes you invisible. It makes you conspicuous.
People don't change very much, and the things life ends up being about don't change from generation to generation. Life is about love. And people's stories don't really change. Your environment changes dramatically, technology changes, but people don't change, in the way our minds work.
I use the word 'fat'. I use that word because that's what people are: they're fat. They're not bulky; they're not large, chunky, hefty or plump. And they're not big-boned. Dinosaurs were big-boned. These people are not overweight: this term somehow implies there is some correct weight... There is no correct weight. Heavy is also a misleading term. An aircraft carrier is heavy; it's not fat. Only people are fat, and that's what fat people are! They're fat !
Fat people aren't just fat people; they have so many layers to them, just like anybody else, that I think should be explored.
Surround yourself with a bunch of like-minded people, and you'll soak up their habits like a starved sponge. Fat people with fat friends care less about their weight.
I'll never forget, Christine Woods came up to me on set and she looked at me so seriously and held my hand, and she's like, "Kether, look at me. In real life, we are beautiful, beautiful women. No one thinks we're fat. In TV, we are TV fat and we just have to get used to it. Don't ever take it personally. We're TV fat. End of story".
I never had a desire to be famous... I was fat. I didn't know any fat famous actresses... You know, once a fat kid, always a fat kid. Because you always think that you just look a little bit wrong or a little bit different from everyone else. And I still sort of have that.
There are plenty of wonderful, good fat people in the USA that have no problems being fat, who I have no problems with being fat.
It's okay to be fat. So you're fat. Just be fat and shut up about it.