Kristin Davis Shares Weight Pressure Experience on 'Melrose Place'
Kristin Davis revealed that she faced pressure regarding her weight while starring on Melrose Place. Davis, now 59, was part of the Fox primetime soap from 1995 to 1996. She later became widely known for her role as Charlotte York in HBO’s Sex and The City.
Before taking on the iconic role, Davis portrayed the character Brooke Armstrong, a villain. She struggled with meeting unrealistic body standards imposed by the industry.
In an interview with People, published on February 5, Davis recounted an unnerving encounter with her costar, Thomas Calabro, while she was in her makeup trailer.
"He’s like, ‘Kristin, I’m so happy to see you here,’" she recalled Calabro, now 66, saying. "‘I just wanna tell you that you look great.’ I responded, ‘Oh, thank you. What are you talking about?’ He continued, saying, ‘Oh, I know that the producers are really stressed, but it’s amazing that we have a woman who has curves.'"
Davis felt puzzled.
"He said, ‘I just think they shouldn’t put too much pressure on you,’" she recounted, to which Davis replied, "What?"
After the conversation, she approached a line producer. "I said, ‘Thomas Calabro just told me you guys are stressed about my weight. Did Mr. [Aaron] Spelling say something?’ He reassured me, ‘We think you look beautiful,’ and I pressed, ‘Yeah, and?’ He softly added, ‘Just don’t gain any weight,’" Davis remembered.
Monitoring actors’ weight became the norm. Davis noted this situation often induced stress. "If you had hips, it was challenging," she explained.
Alongside Calabro, her Melrose Place co-stars included Heather Locklear and Courtney Thorne-Smith.
"The atmosphere on set was difficult concerning the issue of thinness," Davis explained. She added, "Every single person was gorgeous and super skinny, which made me feel pressured."
To align with their standards, Davis began training rigorously. She reported engaging in 90-minute spin classes back-to-back.
"I was frustrated and really trying to meet expectations," she confessed. "Of course, I’m sure I wasn’t eating; I can't recall my meals."
At one point, she fainted in a parking lot after feeling dizzy. There were other moments when she struggled to remember her name. "It was a lot," she admitted.
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