Shonda Rhimes Says People Only Saw Her As ‘Valuable’ After She Lost Weight | HuffPost

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"When I was fat, I wasn’t a PERSON to these people."

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Lifestyle editor

Shonda Rhimes is not OK with people treating her differently just because she lost weight.

The TV queen, who has blessed us with shows like "Grey's Anatomy" and "Scandal," recently opened up about her weight loss of "close to 150 lbs" in her new Shondaland newsletter. In her note, the 47-year-old revealed that both men and women started to treat her as a more valuable person only after she shed some pounds.

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Shonda Rhimes at the Planned Parenthood 100th Anniversary Gala in New York City.

"Women I barely knew gushed. And I mean GUSHED. Like I was holding-a-new-baby-gushed," Rhimes revealed. "Only there was no new baby. It was just me. In a dress. With makeup on and my hair all did, yes. But...still the same me. And men? They spoke to me. THEY SPOKE TO ME. Like stood still and had long conversations with me about things. It was disconcerting. But even more disconcerting was that all these people suddenly felt completely comfortable talking to me about my body. Telling me I looked 'pretty' or that they were 'proud of me' or that 'wow, you are so hot now' or 'you look amazing!'"

What the hell did they see me as before?

Rhimes was rightly confused by men and women's new attitudes towards her and went on to call out the ridiculousness of it all.

"After I lost weight, I discovered that people found me valuable. Worthy of conversation. A person one could look at. A person one could compliment. A person one could admire," she wrote.

"You heard me. I discovered that NOW people saw me as a PERSON. What the hell did they see me as before? How invisible was I to them then? When I was fat, I wasn't a PERSON to these people. Like I had been an Invisible Woman who suddenly materialized in front of them. Poof! There I am. Thin and ready for a chat."

The famed TV producer then ended her newsletter with a powerful message: "Being thinner doesn't make you a different person. It just makes you thinner."

Rhimes rarely opens up about her weight loss, which is what makes her message that much more important. She is reminding us that self-worth is not determined based on your appearance.

And while losing weight might be healthy for some people, equating self-worth and appearance can actually be dangerous and can lead to eating disorders or mental health problems, such as depression.

So thank you Shonda for the little reminder that people are people no matter what.

Also on HuffPost:

Empowering Shonda Rhimes Quotes

(01 of09)

"Dreams are lovely. But they are just dreams. Fleeting, ephemeral, pretty. But dreams do not come true just because you dream them. It's hard work that makes things happen. It's hard work that creates change." -- From Shonda's 2014 Dartmouth College Commencement

(02 of09)

"I want my daughters to see me and know me as a woman who works. I want that example set for them. I am a better mother for it. The woman I am because I get to run Shondaland, because I get to write all day, because I get to spend my days making things up, that woman is a better person – and a better mother. Because that woman is happy. That woman is fulfilled. That woman is whole." -- From Shonda's 2014 Dartmouth College Commencement

(03 of09)

“This moment right here, me standing up here all brown with my boobs and my Thursday night of network television full of women of color, competitive women, strong women, women who own their bodies and whose lives revolve around their work instead of their men, women who are big dogs, that could only be happening right now.” -- From Shonda's The Hollywood Reporter’s annual Women in Entertainment Breakfast

(04 of09)

"I think in telling LGBT stories, I'm telling everyone's story. Love is, in fact, universal, right? … I want my daughters to grow up in a world in which there is more love than hate. I want them to know a world where everyone is free. So that's why I write the stories that I do, because everyone should be free." -- From Shonda's GLAAD acceptance speech

(05 of09)

“I’m a black woman every day, and I’m not confused about that. I’m not worried about that. I don’t need to have a discussion with you about how I feel as a black woman, because I don’t feel disempowered as a black woman.” -- From Shonda's NYT profile

(06 of09)

"Most of the women I saw on TV didn't seem like people I actually knew. They felt like ideas of what women are." -- Shonda's 2006 O Magazine interview

(07 of09)

"The best stories are often true… The narrative of human life is most beautiful when told truthfully and without boundaries." -- From Shonda's Glamour Women Of The Year speech

(08 of09)

"Yes, it is hard out there. But hard is relative. I come from a middle-class family, my parents are academics. I was born after the Civil Rights movement, I was a toddler during the women's movement, I live in the United States of America, all of which means I am allowed to own my freedom, my rights, my voice and my uterus." -- From Shonda's 2014 Dartmouth College Commencement

(09 of09)

“I joked to Tony Goldwyn that on another television series, he’d be the pretty girl that all the men are trying to save… That’s what he is, except he happens to also be the leader of the free world.” From Shonda's NYT profile

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