Stars — they really are just like us. For women in Hollywood, the subject of their weight is often a big topic, like it is with the rest of us. And it can be frustrating to carry on a few extra pounds when it affects your quality of life. So for a variety of reasons, health being a major one, a number of plus-sized celebrities have made big transformations in their bodies. Each of them has followed her own path, but all are pretty amazing. Like for Shonda Rhimes — learning how saying yes to things helped her change her body. And for Rosie O'Donnell — she got a real wake-up call thanks to a major health issue. Oprah Winfrey says she has "finally made peace with food." Read on to see how these celebs changed their lives.


Shonda Rhimes said yes to getting healthy

"You never say yes to anything." Those words were the basis of the Grey's Anatomy creator's best-selling book The Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person, where Rhimes started to change that way of living.

Rhimes told Oprah Winfrey on the show Super Soul Sunday in 2015 (via Parade) that she thought at the time: "I really need to start saying yes to the things that scare me. If I never say yes to anything, I need to start saying yes to things that I would always say no to automatically." So one thing that was important for the mother of three to say yes to, she said, was good health, so that she could be there for her kids.

And her eventual weight loss of over 125 pounds was she called a "byproduct" of saying yes, and also of "having an epiphany," she said. "I work so hard at everything that I do. I work my butt off at work and I work hard at being a mother, why do I think losing weight would be easy?" Just realizing that made a big difference for her. Rhimes also acknowledged that she wouldn't like it, telling Extra (via Popcrush), "I changed everything I ate — and I hated all of that — and then I hate exercising and I did that, too. I hated it the whole time." She admitted she still hates it, but she keeps on track for her health and for her family.
Melissa McCarthy wants to dress women of every size

Actress Melissa McCarthy has been making people laugh for years on the TV show Mike & Molly and movies like Bridesmaids and Spy. She has also been what Refinery29 calls a "role model" for plus-sized women. But she told the website in a 2016 interview, "It never occurs to me in terms of being a role model, though, because I don't know any perfect women. If I, off the top of my head, name 20 of the most amazing women in my life, it's all shapes, sizes, ages, colors, jobs." Besides, as this Hollywood insider knows, even the perfect are not so perfect. "I know some of those women in those magazines who get called perfect or whose butt is supposedly better," she shared, "and often they don't even look like that in person."

As of this writing, the Ghostbusters actress has lost a significant amount of weight that In Touch Weekly estimated to be 75 pounds, although McCarthy has not revealed the exact number. When Refinery29 asked her about it, she shared, "I have, but I'll be back again. I'll be up, I'll be down, probably for the rest of my life. The thing is, if that is the most interesting thing about me, I need to go have a lavender farm in Minnesota and give this up. There has to be something more."

In 2014, McCarthy started a fashion line for women of all sizes. She told WWD that she has been "every size on the planet," noting, " I have experience dressing me as a 6, a 12 and more. And when you go above a size 12, you don't lose your love of fashion."

Kirstie Alley is in an on-off relationship with Jenny Craig

Actress Kirstie Alley once got up to 219 pounds, but she was in a little bit of denial over her weight loss until the tabloids not-so-helpfully pointed it out to her. "Honestly, I didn't know how fat I was," she said on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2006. "Thanks to the tabloids I went, 'Damn, girl, you're fat!'" Ultimately, Alley lost 75 pounds, and kept a promise she made to come back on Oprah and wear a bikini, albeit with some pantyhose under it.


Alley "broke up" with Jenny Craig shortly after that. Unfortunately, within a few years, she had gained all the weight back and then some. Then she started her own weight loss company, Organic Liaison, lost 100 pounds, and went on Dancing With the Stars in 2011. But, according to an interview with People magazine, Alley found herself getting back together with Jenny Craig in 2015 after she put on 30 pounds.

"I love that you have a consultant," Alley told People. "It's like being an athlete. No athlete is going to do well without having a coach. We have to equate that to life." By 2017, Alley had lost a total of 50 pounds, and has kept it off. She revealed to People in January 2017 that she avoided her three top trigger foods, cheese, linguini with clam sauce, and sugar cookies, watched her calories, and kept up with exercise. And she's still enjoying life. "I can have anything I want, I'm just counting the calories," she noted.

Slow and steady works for Wendy Williams

Daytime talk show host Wendy Williams has struggled with weight all of her life. The divisive television personality told People magazine, "My first diet was in the first grade! Tuna fish and mustard with yogurt on the side. Weight was a big thing for me to overcome." The host has gradually shed 50 pounds over three years and kept it off. "Slow and steady is the name of the game," she shared. "It's not going to happen overnight. I no longer believe in fad diets, crash diets. I don't believe in diet pills. I don't want my heart to race and pop out of my chest."

Williams said she no longer eats meat. She also works out regularly, saying "I go to the gym because it's not about me losing weight at this point, it's about me trying to fight heart disease."

She talked to E! News in 2017 about her fitness journey and how her fans inspired her. "I did it on my own and I love it because I no longer have to do that fight with clothing. 'Wah, wah, wah, I don't wanna wear sleeveless… does this make my butt look big?'" she noted. "Those things get in the way of being a good host for the people." Now she's feeling great about herself in segments like gossiping with Shady Shallon.

The host also said she prioritizes eating breakfast now. "I've learned to be extremely healthy regarding morning eating," now choosing things like green juices and fruits. "I was doing it all wrong before."

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