It’s that extra motivation. This Is Us star Chrissy Metz revealed that her contract for the hit new NBC drama includes a mandatory weight-loss clause — but she was more than happy to sign it.
In the show, the actress, 37, plays Kate, a woman who’s struggling to lose weight and make significant lifestyle changes, meaning that Metz has to slim down as her character does.
“In our contract, it did state that that would be a part of it, to lose the weight in the trajectory of the character as she comes to find herself,” she told TVLine in a new interview. “That was a win-win for me. Because it’s one thing to try to do it on your own. But as human beings, it’s an ego thing: We’re more likely to do something for someone else.”
The former American Horror Story star said that Kate’s growth and development is “parallel to my life” and that the agreement to improve her health was a “different kind of motivation, so I was excited about it.”
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Metz explains that she wants to do it for herself — not just because her contract requires it. “I, as Chrissy, want to do things that mentally, emotionally and physically make me the best that I can be,” she told the site. “That’s the intention for our writers and the development of the character.”
She wants to emphasize, though, that she loves and embraces her curvy figure, and other women should too. “I just have to be clear: Whether or not I lose weight or stay the same, it’s purely a choice of mine for health. Not because I think that plus-size, curvy, voluptuous, big bodies aren’t attractive — because I think they’re awesome and sexy,” she said. “So I’ll just have to make sure that’s known, because I’m not selling out the big girls.”
This Is Us, which also stars Mandy Moore, Milo Ventimiglia and Sterling K. Brown, airs on NBC Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET.