Ivy Snitzer is sharing how appearing in 鈥淪hallow Hal鈥� led to some dark days for her.
In an interview with The Guardian, Snitzer talked about having been a 20-year-old aspiring actress when she worked as the body double for Gwyneth Paltrow in the 2001 film in which Paltrow portrayed an obese woman.
While Snitzer said the cast and crew 鈥渢reated me like I really mattered, like they couldn鈥檛 make the movie without me鈥� and she was made to 鈥渇eel really comfortable,鈥� she said 鈥渋t didn鈥檛 occur to me that the film would be seen by millions of people.鈥�
鈥淚t was like the worst parts about being fat were magnified,鈥� Snitzer said of the film鈥檚 release. 鈥淎nd no one was telling me I was funny.鈥�
What followed was people accusing her of promoting obesity and approaching her on the street, she said.
鈥淚 got really scared,鈥� she recalled. 鈥淚 was like: maybe I鈥檓 done with the concept of fame, maybe I don鈥檛 want to be an actor. Maybe I鈥檒l do something else.鈥�
After leaving Los Angeles and moving back home to New York City to live with her parents, Snitzer said within two years she was 鈥渢echnically starving to death.鈥�
Following gastric band surgery in 2003, her band slipped, Snitzer explained, 鈥渁nd I got a torsion 鈥� like dogs get and then die.鈥�
Unable to consume anything of substance without throwing up, she said she lived off of sports drinks and nutritional shakes that had been watered down.
鈥淚 was so thin you could see my teeth through my face and my skin was all grey,鈥� Snitzer said. 鈥淎nd I was just so bitchy all the time. I kind of alienated a lot of my friends. My mother was also dying; it was bleak. Humans shouldn鈥檛 have to experience how very bleak that particular time in my life was.鈥�
Her malnourished state meant doctors couldn鈥檛 perform corrective surgery and further complications resulted in her having to receive a gastric bypass, which leaves her now only able to eat very small portions, Snitzer said.
And while getting weight loss surgery was more about a doctor telling her it would save her life than appearing in 鈥淪hallow Hal,鈥� she now says that at the time of filming she felt both insecure and confident.
鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 body positive, because it didn鈥檛 really exist that way,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 was kind of 鈥榤e positive鈥�, because I was like: I鈥檓 funny, that鈥檚 good enough!鈥�
The-CNN-Wire
鈩� & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
