Can I admit something here? It’s kind of horrible, and I’m ashamed of myself for it, but I feel like this is a safe place and that I can tell you guys anything. So, ok, here goes … I still haven’t seen The Help. Wow. I feel so much better after admitting that. I feel like this weight has been lifted from my … oh god. You guys are going to hate me for this, aren’t you? You guys are going to tell me that because I haven’t seen one popular film that I am horrible at my job. Why did I ever tell anyone that I haven’t seen The Help?*
But listen, the fact that I haven’t seen this supposedly amazing film that has won award after award and that has been nominated for a number of Oscars isn’t important right now. Because right now, I am completely in love with Octavia Spencer for not being afraid tell it like it is:
“It’s our society,” Octavia Spencer told me backstage at tonight’s SAG Awards, right after her big Best Supporting Actress win for The Help. I had just asked what the foodie actress thought of stick-thin Hollywood actresses.
Octavia was hardly done:
“It’s a society that tells you you’re no longer valuable at a certain age,” commanded the actress, who played a maid famous for her fried chicken and chocolate pie. “Or because of your weight.”
Nevertheless, Spencer went on to say that she wasn’t proud of her own weight—that she could lose a “little ’round the middle”—but that she still “feels” for women who starve themselves in Hollywood and wishes they wouldn’t.
“Women would be much happier if they ate. I know I sure get a headache when I don’ t eat!”
“But, you know what, Ted?” Octavia, glittering in gray satin and sequins, said picking up her heavy SAG trophy. “I’m just gonna lift this baby a few times to lose that little bit of weight I need to!”
I don’t need to have seen Octavia’s reportedly wonderful performance in The Help to appreciate the hell out of this. And this isn’t hating on thin women or women who work hard to maintain a certain weight, this is just simple exasperation about women who don’t eat at all to stay thin. Believe me, I have a lot of skinny friends, and there’s a huge difference between the ones who super healthy or just naturally petite and the ones who flat out refuse to eat, and that last category could certainly stand to gain a little happiness.
But mostly I’m just totally in awe of that last little comment Octavia made about lifting her trophy to lose weight. That is just pure classy sass, and I love it to pieces.
How do you guys feel about Octavia? Are you going to be rooting for her at the Oscars?
*Other movies I haven’t seen include Drive, Moneyball, The Descendants, The Artist, My Week with Marilyn, The Ides of March, Hugo, or The Iron Lady. However, I did see Beginners and We Need to Talk About Kevin, so …