I starved myself to make it in Hollywood ..after chat with pal Liz
Frances Barber on crash diet
Frances lost a stone and a half
Frances appeared in hit shows Poirot and Silk
Liz said she had starved herself
The 62-year-old flew there five years ago to try to build a film career and felt under pressure to lose weight to get parts.
So she dropped a stone and a half by not eating – and says it was thanks to some words from actress friend Liz, 54.
The pair starred together in Channel 4 series Orchid House in the early 1990s.
“I literally stopped eating and not in a healthy way,” admitted Frances, who dated director Danny Boyle in college.
“Elizabeth is an old friend of mine and she lost weight very, very rapidly a few years ago.
“I asked her how she did it and she said ‘I just starved’ – and that’s what I did. I lost a stone and a half.”
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live, she told of the pressure she felt to be skinny.
“It was really brutal but I was going to castings and I was the biggest person there, a size 12.
“I was twice the size of everybody else. It got to me.”
But Frances said the transformation was short-lived once she returned to Britain.
GLAD
“I came back two years ago and everyone said I looked amazing –for about 10 months.” Wolverhampton-born Frances has had two Olivier Award nominations for her stage work here and appeared in films including Prick up Your Ears and An Ideal Husband. But she says her experience in California made her glad she didn’t go there when she was young. She said: “I went a few years ago when I got a job with director William Friedkin but it didn’t work out. “I got a visa for how-ever many years and I thought ‘this is unfinished business’. “I also felt like I wasn’t a newcomer so I could go into castings and had a CV. “So I worked for three years and loved it but I missed my friends and family. “I am happy I got it out of my system. “I am also happy I didn’t do it when I young. It is very tough for women.” scoops@ sundaymirror. co.uk was