Patricia Arquette reveals she was told to lose weight while starring on hit TV show Medium

Publish date: 2024-06-01

She's a campaigner for equal rights and equal pay and a passionate advocate for women.

And Patricia Arquette recently gave another example from her own career of how actresses struggle with body image and of the pressures they face when working.

Arquette, 51, starred on the hugely successful TV drama Medium for seven seasons from 2005 to 2011. But, according to PageSix.com, that wasn't enough to prevent her from being pressured to slim down. 

Pressured to slim down: Patricia Arquette recently shared that she was told to lose weight by a producer while starring on the successful CBS TV series Medium

Pressured to slim down: Patricia Arquette recently shared that she was told to lose weight by a producer while starring on the successful CBS TV series Medium

In the CBS series, she played Allison DuBois, a woman with psychic abilities who works as a consultant to law enforcement in Arizona to help solves crimes.

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Arquette explained during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter: 'I had an argument with one of the producers on Medium, who told me I should lose weight. I was like, ‘This lady is a mother, she’s married, she’s got three kids. No.''

'But there’s that expectation … of looking a certain way. Like, ‘OK, you could be 40, but you’ve got to be a 40 who looks 30',' she added, according to PageSix.com.

Hit show: Medium premiered in 2005 and Arquette, who was 37 at the time, starred as a mother of three with psychic abilities who helps law enforcement solve cases

Hit show: Medium premiered in 2005 and Arquette, who was 37 at the time, starred as a mother of three with psychic abilities who helps law enforcement solve cases

Speaking out: 'There¿s that expectation ¿ of looking a certain way. Like, ¿OK, you could be 40, but you¿ve got to be a 40 who looks 30',' Arquette, pictured in May 2005, told THR.com

Speaking out: 'There’s that expectation … of looking a certain way. Like, ‘OK, you could be 40, but you’ve got to be a 40 who looks 30',' Arquette, pictured in May 2005, told THR.com

The actress, who won an Academy Award for 2014's Boyhood, also spoke to the publication about how gaining weight for her role in the Showtime mini series Escape At Dannemora had changed the way she was perceived.

Arquette, who played a prison worker who helped two inmates with whom she was sexually involved escape from the correctional facility, wanted to put on pounds to play the character as she wanted to.

But, she said, it made her feel 'matronly, dumpy, middle-aged' and that looking like that made her 'an invisible person.'

Nevertheless, Arquette told THR.com, it begged the questions as to 'Who's allowed to be sexual now in this culture? When are women allowed to be sexual? What body type do we have to have?'

Perception issues: She deliberately gained weight for her role in 2018's Escape At Dannemora and said being 'matronly, dumpy, middle-aged' made her 'an invisible person'

Perception issues: She deliberately gained weight for her role in 2018's Escape At Dannemora and said being 'matronly, dumpy, middle-aged' made her 'an invisible person'

For a cause: On Thursday, Arquette attended the amfAR Cannes Gala 2019 accompanied by her daughter Harlow, 16, from her marriage to actor Thomas Jane

For a cause: On Thursday, Arquette attended the amfAR Cannes Gala 2019 accompanied by her daughter Harlow, 16, from her marriage to actor Thomas Jane

Last week, Arquette was in Cannes where she attended the amfAR Cannes Gala 2019 on Thursday night.

She was accompanied to the event by her daughter Harlow, 16, from her marriage to actor Thomas Jane.

And at the end of April, the actress appeared before Congress in Washington, D.C. to express her support for the Equal Rights Amendment, which puts in place legal protections for women against discrimination on account of gender.

'Women are rising up by the millions and saying they will not be sexually assaulted, they will not be paid less, they will not be treated as subhuman and they will have their voices heard,' she told lawmakers.

Speaking to ABC News, she said the amendment is a critical one that impacts everyone.

'It really should be personal for every woman and it should mean a lot to every man who loves women or who cares about equality at all,' Arquette said. 'On the outside, you think that when you look at America women have equal rights.

'But when you start picking it apart - at all the ways women are falling through the cracks - you start to think maybe we aren't really equal?' 

Advocate: At the end of April, the actress appeared before Congress in Washington, D.C. to express her support for the Equal Rights Amendment

Advocate: At the end of April, the actress appeared before Congress in Washington, D.C. to express her support for the Equal Rights Amendment

'Women are rising up by the millions and saying they will not be sexually assaulted, they will not be paid less, they will not be treated as subhuman and they will have their voices heard,' she told lawmakers

'Women are rising up by the millions and saying they will not be sexually assaulted, they will not be paid less, they will not be treated as subhuman and they will have their voices heard,' she told lawmakers 

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