Lily James Went on a Liquid Diet to Fit Into the Cinderella Corsets—Watch Now!

Star explains her "liquid corset diet"

By Nicole Adlman Mar 03, 2015 10:48 PMTags
Watch: Why Lily James Was on a Liquid Diet for "Cinderella"

If you ask Lily James, eating lunch in her corset might have been the most difficult part of filming Cinderella.

"I think I may be trying to get sympathy a bit there. I'm being a bit over the top," she quipped to E! News when asked about her corset-ready diet. "When [the corset] was on we would be on continuous days so we wouldn't stop for lunch or a lovely tea like this—you'd be sort of eating on the move. In that case, I couldn't untie the corset. So if you ate food it didn't really digest properly and I'd be burping all afternoon in [Richard Madden]'s face, and it was just really sort of unpleasant. I'd have soup so that I could still eat but it wouldn't get stuck."

Luckily, the corset for Lily's enchanting blue ball gown was only used for a small part of filming the live-action Disney flick, which hits theaters on March 13.

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Waist-cinching devices may be big in fantasy films and, well, for certain reality stars, but Lily expresses hopes that young women find more interest in health and happiness.

"For girls growing up sometimes I think they get the wrong idea for what women should look like," she said. "And I think it's so important to be healthy and confident and natural. And not put too much stress on trying to be thin—I don't get the thin, thin thing at all. I'm actually finding it really hard not to eat right now." (That a girl's girl sentiment if we've ever heard one!)

And OK, we really, really wanted to know about her glass slippers, and Lily of course delivered.

"I keep thinking maybe if I talk about it a lot in interviews, and say like ‘I really want the glass slipper,' then maybe it would put a bit of pressure on Disney," Lily joked. "And I feel bad every time I say this because I feel like I'm breaking the illusion—but what the hell. It was made of Swarovski crystals. [Glass slippers] would have broken and wouldn't have been comfortable."

But there is a happily ever after to be had: Glass slippers have come to life from our favorite luxe footwear designers at Saks Fifth Avenue stores. (No fairy godmother needed.)