Medium - TV show or shirt size?

August 22, 2006 at 9:51 AM

I saw this news blurb on the Internet Movie Database the other day:

Patricia Arquette was outraged when she was asked to lose her baby weight for her role as psychic detective Allison Dubois in TV series Medium - because the character is a mother of three. The True Romance star, sister of David Arquette and Rosanna Arquette, refused to slim for the motherly role, insisting the request simply didn't make sense. She says, "When I started Medium I'd gained a stone and a half from having my daughter Harlow. The producer said, 'Honey, you've got to lose some weight.' I felt like saying, 'I don't want to do this job then,' because, to be honest with you, I'm trying to make little changes in the world. If it made any sense for this part - if this part was a supermodel or anorexic - then okay. But DuBois is a mother of three in a long-term marriage. It doesn't make sense."

I've never been a fan of Patricia Arquette's acting (nothing personal, just don't like her style), but reading this article made me like her a lot as a person, which is probably better. It'd be nice to see more actresses who have pull in Hollywood take this stance. Younger actresses who haven't made their names yet aren't really in a position to say, "No, I won't lose weight" since there are dozens of thinner, wannabe starlets lined up to take their place. Plus, she's right. A mother of three wouldn't typically be the thinnest woman on the block. Though, I have seen some clips of her TV show and the woman is hardly fat. But I got to cheer for the small victories. Go, Patricia!

17 Comments Leave a comment

Comments RSS feed

Marly • August 22, 2006 10:49 AM

Did I get the first comment? I hope so.

It's a hard thing to say no to producers when they are paying you so much money and the public is putting so much pressure on the actresses AND actors- I applaud her for taking a stand, and I think the tv show is going on as planned, is it not?

There's nothing wrong with a medium, I wear one if the smalls are too tight. It's a healthy size.

Permalink • Reply

metamorphose • August 22, 2006 11:22 AM

Rock on Patricia! I've always loved how voluptuous she has been on the show. I think she looks fantastic and curvy, so much better than the other skin and bones variety that seem to rule the airwaves.

Permalink • Reply

Greta • August 22, 2006 5:09 PM

Wow, she has guts! Luckily they don't say "You need to lose 20 pounds if you want this job as a schoolteacher...or nurse...or construction worker. There IS job discrimination against the obese, however. Nobody says anything but the obese often just don't get the job or promotion.

Permalink • Reply

JJ • August 22, 2006 5:35 PM

I so totally agree with you (both about her size and her acting ability)!

I love the show ... mainly because I've read the book that Ms. Dubois wrote about her experiences being a medium.

And I think that Ms. Arquette pulls off the idea that she's (Ms. DuBois) just an average, every day wife and mother with special abilities.

Next they'll start re-writing the role of her kids not to be pain-in-the-butt, typical kids or worse yet, make Joe retire to stay home and take care of the kids (not realistic at all ... as she's just a consultant to the DA's office).

Good for her! I hope she stands her ground. (Ms. Arquette has never been the type of actress want to be in the media spotlight as a "starlet", so I think she will stand her ground.)

Permalink • Reply

Kelly • August 22, 2006 6:40 PM

I've seen magazines and other gossip venues call her pudgy or whatever and I've thought, "Are they crazy?!" She's not pudgy even, just relatively normal looking. I think that's great that she stood up for the baby weight, and that makes me like the show even more.

Permalink • Reply

AnaBell • August 22, 2006 6:50 PM

I once got into a full heated argument on the imdb boards about the girl playing the middle child. A lot of stupid assholes were saying that the girl is obese and should lose weight or die. The girl is around 9 I think and it's just a normal little girl.
Producers are to blame for a lot of the disstorted images in the media but regular everyday people is obssessed too.

Permalink • Reply

Dawn • August 22, 2006 7:52 PM

ahhh, another reason for me to love Medium.

Permalink • Reply

...jus me • August 22, 2006 8:55 PM

Good for her! Wish they all could say "No"! We would have a much more realistic society!

Permalink • Reply

Mark • August 22, 2006 8:58 PM

Living in Japan, I've come to realize that the inevitability of gaining weight during pregnancy is pretty much a culturally specific urban myth. Japanese women seem to be able to limit their weight gain to the precise weight of the fetus, placenta, amniotic fluid, etc. Somehow pregnancy in the U.S. has become a let-it-all-hang-out excuse for binging, I think, sort of like Christmas or Thanksgiving.

Permalink • Reply

PastaQueen • August 22, 2006 11:52 PM

Mark - That's an interesting observation. I wonder if the fact that it's so unacceptable to be a fat woman in America leads women to eat more during pregnancy. They can finally enjoy eating, gain weight and not have to feel guilty about it. You can just say "I'm not fat, I'm pregnant." I similarly have wondered if teenage binge drinking is in part due to that fact that Americans can't legally drink until they're 21. This gives drinking a forbidden and thus irresistible appeal and leads to overindulgence and abuse. In America, enjoying food and eating what you want unashamedly is pretty taboo for a woman, so pregnancy might act as a free pass. Though surely some Japanese women must start hitting the sushi bars a bit too much and gain weight. Aren't the Japanese just thinner in general? There's also a recovery time after giving birth, especially if you've had a C-section, so I doubt any woman immediately fits into her old jeans an hour after giving birth. Either way, I don't think it applies to Patricia Arquette. If that woman's BMI is over 30 I'll eat this blog.

Permalink • Reply

K • August 23, 2006 4:45 AM

In Britain the legal drinking age is 18, and underage drinking is still rife - although recently, focus in the press has been more on binge-drinking by people of legal age (in other words, the person maybe doesn't exceed the guidelines for the week, but drinks it all in one or two evenings - which is worse for your health).

I didn't drink at all until I was 19, and was considered weird. But now I think that if you're going to be stupid, you might as well get it over with when you're young and don't yet have university essays to write (etc). I can see that there's a flaw in this plan, though, which is that some people don't get over that stage...

Permalink • Reply

Michael W Anderson • August 23, 2006 7:08 AM

Way to go Patricia!
Let us not forget that Patricia is a mere 5 ft 2 inches tall. if she gains of loses 5 lbs, it will certainly show, which is not the case for taller folks.
I love her stance on her weight, and it makes sense to me. Her character simply would not have the time or energy to be as health conscious as a single woman. Arquette's character is a full time mom, wife, and psychic detective. I see her character as eating healthy, but also needed to eat fast for convenience. When you are married and in a loving, honest, and solid relationship, (not to mention have had 3 children), you tend to have a few more pounds than you would if you were single with no kids. That is the way thr world works.
What also should be mentioned is that Arquette is in NO WAY fat. Not at all. Even when she appears to be 'thinner' than she is for the show, she still have very womanly curves. Look at her all the way back to 1987 in her film work, she has always been small and curvy.
She is a real woman.
It is simply too bad people like Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, etc. are what all the magazines focus on.
Arquette has been in the spotlight since 1987, and is here to stay, curves and all. She is not famous for anything other than her talent and honesty, which can't be said for many famous people in Hollywood. Her last name has not made her, she has made her own name.

Permalink • Reply

Mark • August 23, 2006 7:16 AM

The legal drinking age is 20 in Japan, which is probably observed about as strictly as elsewhere in the world. ;-)

C-sections are not as common in Japan as in the U.S., I have read -- although Princess Kiko will be having one. I think the lack of malpractice lawsuits makes doctors less apt to rush to recommend C-sections. And, despite the popularity of golf, doctors don's seem to schedule birth during business hours as in the U.S.

Women in less urban areas seem to be fatter in Japan, but that's the same as in the U.S.

I think Japan will eventually go the way of the U.S. There is a tipping point, that the U.S. passed years ago, where being fat just isn't such a stigma, since everyone around you is fat, and the environment starts to adapt to fat people. Men can wear below-the-knees hip-hop fat guy shorts and sandals with a untucked-in shirt to a restaurant and not be stared at, so that not fitting in clothes the right way no longer functions as the shit!-I'm-fat! moment of truth.

Japan will eventually hit the tipping point, and obesity will spike.

Permalink • Reply

M. • August 23, 2006 10:26 AM

Japanese women might also be eating very differently from Western women, in addition to having different body types. Which, as we know is changing, but, still, there is a difference between eating some extra fish and rice and hitting 5 drive-thrus in a row. I was born and lived in Europe for about 14 years, and women do gain weight during pregnancy. They are however not gaining as much. In my opinion, the average is to have maybe an extra 20 lbs to lose after it. In the US, I've noticed that the phrase "eating for 2" gets thrown around a lot, although, only about 300 extra calories per day are needed. I've also always felt that this was a bit of an excuse to eat more. I've also never been pregnant, so I can't know for sure. But I think that if you're thin you see it as an excuse to start eating all the crap that you've been avoiding, and if you're fat, you also eat more, because now people won't judge you anymore.

Permalink • Reply

bra burner • August 24, 2006 11:53 AM

Mark, let us know how much weight you gain when you get pregnant, ok?

Permalink • Reply

Heather • August 24, 2006 12:22 PM

bra burner,
I thought it was a reasonable observation, but still..
that is t3h funny comment. :) :) :) Made me lol.

Permalink • Reply

Christine • August 25, 2006 12:02 AM

Hey there...I just received the black sleeveless shirt I "won" from your ebay auction! I love it! I wore it today and received many compliments! Thanks!! Hope all is well...Christine in AZ

Permalink • Reply

If you do not see your comment, try refreshing the page.

PastaQueen.com is a fascist regime ruled with a benevolent fist by PastaQueen and the macaroni military. Lively discussion is encouraged, but any comment may be deleted or edited according to the whims of your monarch. Play nice and I won't have to slap anyone with a wet noodle.

There are fields for you to enter your name and web site. If you enter this information in the body of your comment you will annoy me. So don't do that, mmm-kay?

Comments are sometimes disabled a period of time after an entry has been posted to keep the blog on a spam-free diet.

Text ads

SweatyBetty is the no.1 choice for style and performance running gear

You-On-a-Diet.net offers free diet tools, advice, and objective diet reviews. Visit us today to learn more.

Outdoor Outfitters offers quality athletic clothing and outdoor gear for men, women, and children.

Your Ad Here

Advertising Policies

Featured Sponsor

Special thanks to

for sponsoring my upcoming 5K!

Want your link here too? Donate $20 or more today.

Lick the Produce: Odd things I've put in my mouth

Subscribe to
my RSS feed

Jennette Fulda has lost more weight than you will ever find. She tells stories to the Internet about her life after the "after" photo. Contact her.

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for keyboards ruined by coffee spit-takes or forehead wrinkles caused by deep thought.

NBC, do you really think the people who are watching Kings online are interested in the Eddie Murphy kids movie you keep advertising?
Saturday, Jun 13, 4:42 PM

Bought Rolling Stone w/Adam Lambert on the cover at B&N. Middle-aged cashier was Glambert too! We were all glitter and sparkles gabbing!
Saturday, Jun 13, 2:10 PM

I am amazed at how much wax can be stuffed into the human ear canal, & so was my doctor. We could have inserted a wick & burned it for hours
Friday, Jun 12, 2:28 PM