College Voices
Lisa Kudrow Speaks Out About The Pressure She Faced On TV
Actress, Lisa Kudrow, found herself comparing her figure with those of her costars Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox. Kudrow spoke out about the pressure she faced to look like her costars on this week’s episode of the “WTF with Marc Maron” podcast.
Kudrow said that there were moments when she was not comfortable in her own body because of the expectations for women:
“Unfortunately for a woman, if you’re underweight, you look good.”
After filming on the set of Friends, Kudrow would often feel self-conscious about her body after seeing herself on television. She would think to herself, “Oh my god, I’m just a mountain of a girl.”
Kudrow would comment to herself, “I’m already bigger than Courteney and Jennifer — taller, bigger. My bones feel bigger, I just felt like this mountain of a woman next to them.” She admitted that she would often lose weight “on purpose” and was always complimented when she had. Kudrow reflected on the praise she received for losing weight:
“When I was too thin, I was sick all the time. A cold, sinus infection. I was always sick.”
Today, Kudrow embraces her body and sees it in a positive light. She described her new perspective as, at the end of the day, “I just go, ‘Alright, so what? You’re older, that’s a good thing, why is that a bad thing?”
The pressure felt by women to be unhealthily thin, often originates from the actresses shown on television. Kudrow’s experience is just one example of how detrimental this pressure can be on a woman’s self-confidence and can even cause them physical harm. The challenge women face today is overcoming this pressure and gaining confidence in themselves for who they are, no matter what weight.