Ivy Snitzer, the woman who played Gwyneth Paltrow‘s body double in the 2001 film Shallow Hal, told The Guardian in a recent interview that she nearly starved to death after starring in the film.
Two years after Shallow Hal was released in theaters, Snitzer said she was “technically starving to death” from an eating disorder. “It didn't occur to me that the film would be seen by millions of people,” she told the outlet. “It was like the worst parts about being fat were magnified.” Jack Black‘s character in the movie falls in love with a thin Paltrow after being hypnotized to only see the “inner beauty” of others.
Snitzer said she received a lot of negative attention for saying, “It is not the worst thing in the world to be fat,” while promoting the film. She commented on how this harassment affected her. “I hated my body the way I was supposed to. I ate a lot of salads. I had eating disorders that I was very proud of.” She added, “I got a torsion — like dogs get and then die.”