Remember back people first started talking about how Anne Hathaway lost 25 pounds in, like, 5 minutes to play a prostitute dying of tuberculosis in Les Miserables? And Hathaway's rep made a big deal about denying all those X-treme crash dieting rumors (less than 500 calories a day!)?
Well, as you might have suspected, the rep was totally LYING. In the current issue of The Hollywood Reporter, Hathaway finally 'fessed up:
"I just had to stop eating, all for a total of 13 days' shooting."
Yeah, that's kinda what we figured, Anne. And honestly, I don't have a problem with the whole method acting thing -- if Hathaway wants to suffer for her art, well, that's cool. BUT I do worry about non-celeb types following her lead, because while Hathaway was probably being monitored by doctors 24/7, the average gal could do some serious damage to her body by starving for 13 days.
Here are just a few examples of the problems crash diets can cause:
1. Heart damage. From arrhythmias to heart attacks, crash diets cause such drastic shortages of potassium, magnesium, and copper that the heart stops functioning properly.
2. Dehydration. Lots of people think that drinking plenty of water while dieting will keep them well-hydrated, but in fact, it's difficult for your body to retain water if you are not eating balanced meals.
3. Kidney failure. Just ask Margaret Cho, who ended up hospitalized when forced to drop a huge amount of weight for her tv series.
So, take-home message here, people: If you're not a famous method actor hoping to win an Oscar, the whole starving for 13 days thing is probably not worth the risk. (That said, check out the Les Mis clip below -- Hathaway's performance looks incredible.)
Have you ever gone on a crash diet?
Image via thehollywoodreporter
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Comments 7
This move looks amazing, and I can't wait to see it. I'm actually glad that Anne said she stopped eating, because attributing the drastic weight loss to a "healthy diet" would be more harmful, in my opinion. How bad would people feel if they thought that since she did it, they could? I think most people will understand that this isn't a normal or healthy way to lose weight, and that it was just for a movie.
I'm sure she didn't entirely stop eating for 13 days. Probably a medical fast aka liquid diet.
If people out there are so hung up on celebrity that they chose to eat to look like a prostitute dying of TB, well, who cares? You can't fix stupid.
It seems odd that they thought they needed to be so realistic about her physical condition when people are singing most of movie. To much realism might work against it.