A Look Back At Chrissy Metz's Body Image Journey For Her 44th Birthday

Sep 29, 2021 by apost team

From her roles in "This Is Us" to "American Horror Story: Freak Show," Chrissy Metz has graced our screens with genuine talent, while off-screen, she's brought positivity and light to the public.

But behind her ambitious attitude to life is a struggle with weight and body-image issues that stem from childhood. While her journey hasn't always been easy, she's come out the other side much stronger and an inspiration to so many. Now, Chrissy is on top of the world. Turning 41 today, the actress has come a long way from her humble beginnings and lived through several struggles all throughout her life.

Chrissy may seem like the perfect picture of self-love and acceptance today, but her childhood wasn't an easy one and shaped her formative years. Born on September 29, 1980, in Homestead, Florida, the first eight years of Chrissy's life were spent in Japan, where her naval officer father was stationed. Her parents divorced soon after returning to the United States when she was eight years old, and her mom raised her and her two siblings alone.

Despite her hard upbringing, Chrissy never lost sight of her ambitions in life. Aware of her vocal talents and spurred on by her desire to act, Chrissy impressed a talent agent at a competition in Gainesville, Florida, who suggested she move to Los Angeles. After years of getting small parts in TV shows, Chrissy was unsure of where her career was headed.

Thankfully, Chrissy's life soon turned around and after several struggles, she is living her best life full of love, self-acceptance, and being a role model to countless women out there. Read on to find out how she beat her weight and became the beloved actress we know her as today.

Chrissy has said that she never really knew her father. Times were tough for the family and in a 2017 interview with Glamour, she recalled the financial struggles they experienced:

"There were times I'd be nervous walking home from elementary school, thinking, If that red tag from the power company saying our lights are turned off is on the door handle, I don't know what I'll do."

She went on to describe how on some nights, her mother wouldn't eat dinner, simply saying she wasn't hungry. But Chrissy knew she was putting up a front so that she and her siblings wouldn't go hungry. She discussed in the same interview how this likely affected her relationship to food:

"It was devastating. In retrospect I think that's why food equals love in my family. It's the way we showed love—my grandmother would make me a grilled cheese sandwich every time she'd pick me up from school. I really valued that attention. As I got older, that turned into, 'Oh, I'm happy—let's celebrate and eat. I'm sad? Let me eat my feelings.'"

By 11, Chrissy went to Weight Watchers for the first time, and things only became more complicated after her mom remarried. After years of not having much food around, she said she ate as if it would disappear in the blink of an eye when it was there. Chrissy's stepfather would taunt Chrissy over her eating habits and weight gain, which she discussed in detail in her 2018 memoir "This Is Me: Loving the Person You Are Today."

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On the eve of her 30th birthday, Chrissy suffered a panic attack and had initially mistaken what was happening for a heart attack. Doctors warned her about her weight after she had gained more than 100 pounds due to the insecurities of attempting to make it in LA. But Chrissy also understood the panic attack as a spiritual wake-up call, telling People in 2017:

"I'm like, 'Oh, this is not just a physical thing. It's like a soul/spirit/mind/body collective thing. Not everything's connecting.'"

Chrissy began taking steps to keep her weight in check in a healthy way, opting to walk for 20 minutes every day and eat a 2000-calorie diet. Not only did the weight come off, but she began therapy and her journey to self-love just grew. 

Not only that, but it was around this time that Chrissy's acting career also began to heat up—she scored the part in the fourth season of American Horror Story not long after, which eventually led her to audition for This Is Us. Feeling connected to the character Kate Pearson, Chrissy told the Hollywood Reporter:

"Here was this woman who was actually dealing with weight. Not like, 'Oh my God, I gained a pound.' She was a real woman who was really struggling, and all I could think was, 'Oh my God, I'm Kate.'" 

Chrissy's past clearly led her to this role-of-a-lifetime, for which she won two Golden Globe awards for Best Supporting Actress and was nominated for an Emmy. However, it's her role in This Is Us that has had the biggest impact on fans and women everywhere, with Chrissy saying that the inspiration she's able to give to others has made her journey worth it.

A very happy birthday to Chrissy Metz! Did you know about Chrissy's life journey? Have you experienced similar struggles and managed to come out on top? We'd love to hear about them. Let us know your thoughts, and pass this on to inspire those you know!