Emma Thompson Threatened to Quit a Movie After Her Co-Star Was Told to Lose Weight

The Oscar winner is a hero to women everywhere

Emma Thompson is a hero to women everywhere. 

With more than 30 years as an actress, the two-time Oscar winner has collected many experiences in the strange world of Hollywood. One such example was when she almost quit a film in defense of a co-star. 

It was around 2008 and Thompson was working on the set of Brideshead Revisited. As she recalled during an interview on Norwegian-Swedish television program, Skavlan, producers had asked an unnamed actress working on the film to lose weight. 

"She was absolutely exquisite and I said to them, 'If you speak to her about this again on any level, I will leave this picture,'" she remembered saying. "'You are never to do that.'"

Unfortunately, this is a problem female stars have had to deal with for decades. "I was writing about this when I was 21 and it's still terrible," Thompson said, referring to her comedy sketches as a young actress. 

To this day, the star still faces criticism for her looks—flack that she can't wrap her head around. "Do you want me to be an actress or a model?" she wonders when people call her weight into question. 

While the body debate is nothing new, it is serious. 

"There are so many kids, girls and boys now and actresses who are very thin, who are into their 30s [who] simply don't eat. They don't eat," she said. 

"It's evil what's happening, what's going on out there and it's getting worse."