Nia Vardalos speaks on why Crowe and other men are allowed to be fat
By ANITuesday, July 7, 2009
MELBOURNE - Actress Nia Vardalos has decided to give her piece of mind on why actor Russell Crowe and other men are complimented on being fat, while woman are looked down.
Vardalos, 46, who describes Crowe, 45, as “fat”, says that she does not mean to insult him.
“I don’t see a problem with the word fat, quite frankly. I think we give it a power it shouldn’t really have as a negative word,” the Daily Telegraph quoted her as saying.
The ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ star took pains to point out that her own recent weight loss had nothing to do with body image, and that she was tired of Hollywood’s double standards on weight.
After critics equated overweight with unattractive in her hugely successful feature film debut, which was made for 6.3 million dollars and grossed 465 million dollars worldwide, she made it her goal to cast attractive men as her co-leads.
She also pointed out that Crowe’s weight was not a particular focus of the reviews of his most recent thriller ‘State of Play’.
“He gets away with it because we allow it. What exists right now, this double standard, is perpetuated as much by women as it is by men,” she said.
“Most of the editors of these magazines that are buying photographs chased down by the paparazzi - who’s got cellulite and who doesn’t - are run by women.
“And I look at those magazines. So I don’t want to go ’shame, shame!’ We all do it. Let’s just get over it and just say we are more than our bodies.
“And, yeah, Russell Crowe’s fat. Let’s just talk about it for once instead of saying: ‘Oh, that man is so good looking as he ages’ while disparaging woman for - god forbid - not having botox,” she added. (ANI)
