Sarah Snook is opening up about the time a producer body-shamed her for eating cake on set.
In a new interview with The Sunday Times, the Succession star recalled that the cruel incident happened after she was cast in a role that required her to lose weight to become more “marketable”.
The Australian star said she was assigned a personal trainer to lose weight for the part among other demanding stipulations.
“One particular day, I had the tiniest bit of chocolate cake,” Sarah explained, which she said caused the unnamed producer to tear into her in front of the rest of the film’s cast and crew.
The Emmy-nominated actor said the producer’s outburst left her “dying inside,” but a costume designer intervened and told her to keep eating the cake.
The Winchester actor didn’t name the producer who berated her, or the film set in which the demoralising incident took place.
“The infantilising of women, to not be able to make their own decisions, why would we do that to women?” Sarah told The Sunday Times, adding that after landing the film role, its casting director told her she was a “nobody”.
“‘We don’t really want you because you’re a nobody, but the director and the writer think you’re good for the role. So, what we’ll do is change all of you so that you’re marketable: We’ll whiten your teeth, darken your hair, we’ll give you a personal trainer so you can lose weight and look the part,’” she recalled the casting director telling her.
Sarah said she went along with everything at the time because she thought, “In order for me to be successful, I have to be all the things that aren’t me.”
In the last week, Sarah scored her second Golden Globe award for her role as Shiv Roy in HBO Max’s drama Succession, as well as a win at the Critics’ Choice Awards.
She is also nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead actress in a drama series at Monday’s upcoming primetime ceremony.