14 DAY TRIAL // If you look around Hollywood, there are not many women with Amy Schumer’s figure or, for that matter, the guts to point that out in public. The entertainment industry is obsessed with thinness, which, for women, has come to equal “perfection.”
While she’s usually laughing about it, Amy does have moments when it gets to her and makes her not want to continue doing the work she loves so much, she admits in a new interview with The Today Show’s special correspondent Maria Shriver (video below).
Amy Schumer gets serious on body image
Amy’s latest endeavor is a partnership with Goodwill of Southern California, which aims to empower and educate women through fashion. She’s doing it with the person she says changed her life, her stylist Leesa Evans, whom she met on the set of her hit comedy “Trainwreck.”
Because she’s been spending most of her adult life in the spotlight and she knows how hard it is for a woman to deliver solid performances when she’s battling personal insecurities, Amy and Leesa want to help other women find the confidence they need to get back in the workforce, through fashion.
Speaking of the initiative, Amy gets emotional while discussing her own case.
“It's been a struggle for me my whole life, and especially just being in the entertainment industry,” she says. “Standing on a stage in front of people, I can't perform my best or be confident if I'm not sure - if I'm pulling at something [I am wearing]. And sometimes I would just want to throw in the towel and be like, ‘I'm not gonna go do standup tonight’.”
Fashion changed her and her sister’s life
Once Leesa came into her life, she learned that she could do away with her insecurities if she knew how to dress well. However, she adds, what made her want to make a difference in other women’s lives was seeing the impact Leesa had on her little sister.
Even though she didn’t have to, the stylist went shopping for Amy’s sister as well and then dressed her up for events and daily activities, which translated into a huge ego boost for her.
Amy wants to do that for other women now.
All good intentions aside, Schumer also finds a bit of time in the interview to plug her upcoming HBO special, “Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo,” which, she says, is her account of the experience she’s had in Hollywood so far.
No one here is naturally thin, “everyone’s starving,” she assures us.