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Greta Gerwig: 'I've Never Been Overweight,' But 'I Struggle With It Anyway'

Greta Gerwig: 'I've Never Been Overweight,' But 'I Struggle With It Anyway'
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NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 17: Greta Gerwig arrives for the 'Late show with David Letterman' at Ed Sullivan Theater on June 17, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Donna Ward/Getty Images)

Even women who have never really struggled with their weight are prone to bouts of self-loathing -- and that applies to movie stars, too.

Greta Gerwig, who co-wrote and starred in "Frances Ha," talked to Rookie mag about her relationship with her body, pointing out that our culture pushes women to feel bad about themselves regardless of their size:

I’m not saying this as a boast -- but I’ve never been overweight in a serious way and I don’t know what that feels like. So I don’t want to claim that I’m somehow representative of, or that I really understand, what it’s like to deal with that in a bigger way. What’s interesting to me is that I struggle with it anyway. That it occupies my mind in a way that’s disproportionate to how much of an issue it actually should be for me. I think that’s the culture.

In June 2013, Gerwig quipped that one of the perks of becoming more well-known is that designers now send over clothes in the correct size: "They used to only send way smaller sizes. I'd get this little tiny dress, and just look at it and be like, 'Oh, I'm so sad.'"

It's refreshing to see a rising star like Gerwig speak honestly about her personal struggles with body image. Here's hoping that Hollywood continues to celebrate actresses for their talent more than their dress size.

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Before You Go

Actresses Told They Weren't Pretty Enough
1. Winona Ryder(01 of07)
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Winona Ryder recently spoke to Interview magazine's editor-in-chief Stephen Mooallem about the discouraging comments one casting director made early on in her career:
I was in the middle of auditioning, and I was mid-sentence when the casting director said, "Listen, kid. You should not be an actress. You are not pretty enough. You should go back to where you came from and you should go to school. You don't have it."
 (credit:Getty)
2. Whitney Cummings(02 of07)
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In November of 2012, Cummings told Vulture:
I remember my agent at ICM at the beginning of my career telling me that I wasn’t pretty enough, that I was always going to be a quirky sidekick. And he was an ogre of a man. He should have been carrying a torch. If he was in a bar, he couldn’t have come near me, and then he was deciding my fate.
 (credit:JPI)
3. Sally Field(03 of07)
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Sally Field opened up in an interview with The Academy of Achievement about the negative comments she heard about her appearance prior to the release of "Sybil." "Sybil was coming out, and everyone said, 'Whoa, the work is extraordinary ... but man is Sally Field ugly!,'" she recounted. (credit:Getty)
4. Nia Vardalos(04 of07)
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Another obstacle actresses must overcome is fitting into the often narrow selection of roles available for women. Nia Vardalos was discouraged from pursuing her acting career because she didn't look like a particular "type." In 2012, the "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" star told More Magazine:
This agent I was once working with said, "You are not fat enough to be a character actress, and you’re not pretty enough to be a leading lady. Plus, there are no Greek roles. So I can no longer represent you."... I was like, don’t hold anything back. Speak your mind. Then she dropped me.
(credit:AP)
5. Lea Michele(05 of07)
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As if telling a woman she’s ugly isn’t demeaning enough, some actresses, like Lea Michele, are given specific, plastic-surgery related instructions. Lea Michele recounted one such specific request in 2011 to the New York Daily News:
When I was 15, my mother and I went to meet a manager who said, "You have to get a nose job in order for me to work with you ... My mother would say to me, "Barbra Streisand never got a nose job. You’re not getting a nose job."
 (credit:Getty)
6. Kat Dennings(06 of07)
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According to a May 2012 New York Times profile of the actress, when she was just starting out, casting agents recommended that Dennings lose weight, get a tan, dye her hair and fix her teeth. Thank goodness she chose to ignore that advice. (credit:AP)
Sarah Jessica Parker(07 of07)
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Sarah Jessica Parker has long been criticized for her looks. Back in 2007, Maxim Magazine even notoriously named her the "Unsexiest Woman Alive." But SJP has been dealing with such critiques since the beginning of her career. She told Allure Magazine in 2008 that early on industry insiders told her to do “anything from as silly as plucking my eyebrows to getting my nose fixed." But, luckily for Carrie Bradshaw enthusiasts everywhere, she said that the comments were "nothing that stayed in my brain for very long.” (credit:AP)
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