14 DAY TRIAL // Candice Bergen, the 68-year-old former star of the “Murphy Brown” sitcom and an ex-model, is happy that she’s finally getting the chance to enjoy food as much as she always wanted to. In her new memoir, “A Fine Romance,” she talks about how much weight she’s gained in the past 15 years and how little she cares about haters who try to fat-shame her.
Excerpts from the book have been published in Page Six and are already getting plenty of attention online for shedding some light on the extreme measures women in showbiz take to always look “perfect” for the camera.
“I am fat. I don’t care.”
Bergen was one of them, she writes: until about 15 years ago, she too would limit her food intake considerably so that she wouldn’t gain a single pound, would count calories and basically not allow herself any kind of culinary fun.
That’s no longer the case: the star admits she must have gained about 30 pounds (13.6 kg) in the past 15 years, but the stress is gone because she’s no longer looking at the scales. Because she’s the age she is now, she can focus solely on enjoying food without any kind of guilt whatsoever.
“Let me just come right out and say it: I am fat,” she writes. “I live to eat. None of this ‘eat to live’ stuff for me. I am a champion eater. No carb is safe - no fat, either. At a recent dinner party I shared bread and olive oil, followed by chocolate ice cream with my husband. A woman near me looked at me, appalled, and I thought, ‘I don’t care.’ Dieting is out of my purview. I crave cookies... all the things that dilate my pupils.”
Naturally, some moderation is recommended at any age, or else the pleasure of eating becomes a health problem before you know it - a problem that might go beyond the number on the scales. So we’ll just assume that she takes proper care of herself.
A sad story
Also in the book, Candice offers a glimpse into the world of showbiz, such as she experienced it. Women (men too, but not to the same extent) are under severe pressure to look good and that means that they should get thin and then maintain that slender figure no matter the health risks.
We have heard of models who swallow cotton balls to feel “full,” or girls who live on diets of Diet Coke, chewing gum and cigarettes. Eating disorders are a problem with girls and women outside the industry, but it is believed that if role models in showbiz change, a change in real life will also become possible.
Candice says her experience has been mostly with bulimic starlets, women who would show up at parties and eat like they didn’t have a care in the world, only to go and throw up minutes later.
“A Fine Romance” will be out on April 7, 2015.