In 2001, she told W Magazine, “The first day I tried [the fat suit] on, I was in the Tribeca Grand [hotel in New York City], and I walked through the lobby. It was so sad; it was so disturbing. No one would make eye contact with me because I was obese. I was wearing this black shirt with big snowmen on it. For some reason…the clothes they make for women that are overweight are horrible. I felt humiliated because people were really dismissive.”
In 2023, Ivy Snitzer, who was Gwyneth’s body double, told the Guardian that she was made to “feel really comfortable” by the cast and crew, but “it didn’t occur to [her] that the film would be seen by millions of people.”
She said, “It was like the worst parts about being fat were magnified. And no one was telling me I was funny…” She “got really scared” by the responses to her promo interviews, which ranged from someone sending her diet pills to someone sending her love letters. Two years after the movie came out, Ivy was “technically starving to death” after a complication with her gastric band surgery.
She said, “I love that [the movie is] a cool thing I did one time. It didn’t make me feel bad about myself. Until you know, other people started telling me I probably should have felt bad about myself.”
