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.
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 !
I was aware, in those early days of motherhood, that my behaviour was strange to the people who knew me well. It was as though I had been brainwashed, taken over by a cult religion. And yet this cult, motherhood, was not a place where I could actually live. Like any cult, it demanded a complete surrender of identity to belong to it.
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.'
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.
In L.A., fat people are mythical. We're like Big Foot. 'Oh, yeah, my cousin knows someone who's fat.' Nobody's fat in L.A.
I like fat people more then I like thin people, things are always a lot more funnier when they happen to fat people.
I'm trying to, with my stand-up and with the podcast, give people these little stupid things to give them happiness. I know that sounds lofty or like I'm starting a cult, but I kind of feel that way.
Fat people aren't just fat people; they have so many layers to them, just like anybody else, that I think should be explored.
I know I'm not fat, but when people keep telling you that, you have to think about it.
For whatever reason, every project I do becomes sort of a cult, or a cultish show, you know, like 'Battlestar,' or even a film I did years ago, 'Kalifornia,' people refer to it as a cult film.
So many people have asked me if I am in a cult. I'm not in a cult.
I feel like sometimes, when I talk about 'Transparent,' I'm in a cult. And in some ways, I guess I sort of am, although it's a cult that pays me, and I don't pay it, so maybe that's a really good cult.
When I was up for the film 'Dreamcatcher,' to play the role of an overweight kid, I was told I'm too fat to play the fat guy. That's like telling a Mexican to get a tan.
When you're in your mid-thirties, the cult of people who have children around you all want you in their cult, and they constantly ask you, 'So when are you going to have a baby?'
Any kind of dictatorship, I'm uneasy. I just don't like dictators. I don't like crowds. I don't like hordes, and I don't like other people telling me what to do. This is probably a reaction against people telling me what to do when I was a kid. I won't join any group, espouse a cause against some other people.