Maxine Peake fat-shamed and told she needed to lose weight to land leading roles
Maxine Peake says a RADA teacher told her that she would never play leading roles unless she lost weight.
Maxine Peake was fat-shamed and told to "lay off the chips" if she wanted to play Juliet by a teacher while training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).
The BAFTA-nominated actress was 21 when she was finally accepted into the prestigious drama school through the Patricia Rothermere Scholarship, following 13 rejections from other institutions, and she studied there for three years, graduating in 1998.
After the teacher told her she would never play leading roles unless she lost weight, Maxine hit back with a sharp-witted response.
Appearing on 49-year-old Anita Rani's Sisters of Defiance podcast, Maxine, 52, recalled: "I was told at RADA by a teacher, if I didn’t lay off the chips, I would never play Juliet. Those were her exact words.
"To which I went, I don’t want to play Juliet. She kills herself at 16 because of a boy.'"
The star was 15 stone when she got her big break in 1998 playing Twinkle in the BBC sitcom Dinnerladies.
After the first series, the programme's late writer and co-producer Victoria Wood advised her to lose weight to avoid being typecast.
Maxine, then 24, joined WeightWatchers and shed five stone in nine months.
The entertainer's dramatic weight loss meant she had to wear a fat suit in the second series.
Maxine recalled: "She said, 'You’re big, you’re blonde and you’re northern, you’re going to be typecast.'"
Anita asked how she took Victoria's advice, the Shameless alum added: "She wasn't telling me something I didn't already know.
"I think, actually, it was good that somebody - because she said that is what had happened to her. So she was talking from experience.
"So it was a really good piece of advice."
Maxine previously admitted she thinks she felt "happier" as a "bigger girl".
Speaking on the Her Spirit podcast, the Silk cast member explained: "I still have the mindset of being a big girl. Sometimes I think, 'Was I happier when I was bigger?' Because it’s a good protection - it’s a good armour.
"I thought, 'Men are not interested because I’m big.' People say, 'Oh, but you’ve got a lovely personality.'
"I lost weight and thought, 'Have I even got an all right personality?'"
