Awkward! Lorraine’s shock jibe at Gemma
TO most film fans, she is the perfect British beauty. But Gemma Arterton was yesterday forced to defend her size 10 figure.
In a live TV interview, the 0-year-old actress was questioned about her weight in an awkward exchange with Lorraine Kelly that led viewers to accuse the ITV host of body-shaming.
Miss Kelly, 56, asked Miss Arterton if she had ever been told to shed pounds for a role, adding she looked ‘normal’ in comparison to the tiny stars she usually interviews. The actress sat and stared at Miss Kelly for a few moments in disbelief before telling her: ‘That’s because I am normal.’
Miss Arterton, who was appearing on the Lorraine show to promote her new film, the dystopian thriller The Girl With All The Gifts, has spoken in the past about the pressure placed on her to lose weight and how she has been embarrassed by designers for not being smaller than a size ten.
Viewers criticised the Scots presenter’s line of questioning in posts on social media.
Lisa Blunt wrote: ‘Why would you even mention Gemma’s weight? She’s gorgeous, slim and beautiful and probably has a complex now!’
Linzi Murphy said: ‘Did I just hear ITVLorraine tell Gemma Arterton slyly that she is fat? Lorraine get your act together.’ However clinical psychologist Abigael San said Miss Kelly was ‘courageous’ for raising a contentious issue.
Dr San said: ‘It’s important that kids don’t aspire to an unrealistic body image. It’s good there are actresses that are a normal body size that can promote healthy eating.
‘Lorraine was raising a potentially awkward elephant in the room, how else are you going to normalise talking about the problem?’
Miss Kelly, who has previously spoken about her own battle with her weight, said to Miss Arterton: ‘Do you know what I like about you? You’re normal, you’re really normal and you’re a normal size.
‘And I must admit I’ve had a few Hollywood actors in here and to be honest with you Gemma, they’re tiny. But, umm, you look... normal.
‘Does anybody ever say to you... when you’re doing all these big movies, that you have to lose weight?’
Miss Arterton, whose acting breakthrough came in 2008 when she played Bond Girl Strawberry Fields in Quantum Of Solace, responded: ‘They wouldn’t do it any more. I wouldn’t work on those movies. I’d run a mile. I would do it if it was necessary for a part but not just aesthetically.’
In 2010, Miss Arterton said: ‘I don’t know why there should be pressure [for actresses to be thin] because they should be able to play every type of person, but it is an issue.
‘It’s a weird position to be in because, as somebody who really takes acting seriously, this stuff is so trivial.’