Debra Messing is having a great year. Her USA series, “The Starter Wife,” is a hit show and she’s got a holiday family-comedy coming out, Nothing Like The Holidays. In the film, she plays a Jewish woman celebrating Christmas with her husband’s (John Leguizamo) big, loud Puerto Rican family. Just seeing Leguizamo toast his “family” with a respectful “mazel tav” already has me in stitches.
To promote the film, Messing gave an interview to Shape Magazine. She talks a lot about her family – her parents, her son and her real-life husband Daniel Zelman, creator/writer/producer of “Damages” (a really great show, by the way). She also talks about the difficulty she had losing weight after her son was born, while she was still working on “Will & Grace”.
Everyone knows that dropping your pregnancy weight is tough. Debra tried to do it while the entire world was watching. “It was written about in the tabloids a lot,” she says of her post-baby body. “On one page it showed all the actresses who got skinny in six weeks or less, and on the other page was me! I was so depressed and frustrated.”
It wasn’t that she didn’t try to lose the extra 42 pounds. Right after her son was born, Debra went to a personal trainer. “It helped me drop the first few pounds, but I was exhausted! I couldn’t work out three hours a day and do my job as a mother and an actress. So I took the pressure off: I cut back on seeing the trainer but started eating healthier.” It took her three years, but she got back to her pre-baby weight. “Ultimately I’m very proud of how I dropped the weight because I think it was the healthy approach,” she says. “I’ve finally taken ownership of my body.”
[From Shape]
I was a big fan of “Will & Grace,” and I remember how much weight she gained. Mainly, I remember it because she was so skinny, almost too skinny, before she got pregnant. Here’s the thing – when she came back after her maternity leave, I thought she looked fine. Sure, she was bigger than she was in the first seasons of “Will & Grace,” but she looked healthy, not overweight.
It’s got me wondering what Debra thinks her weight should be. I realize that actresses are a different breed altogether, and that producers and directors can just hire the next (skinny) actress and they have to be able to wear certain clothes, and there’s a mean tabloid press and all of that. But I’m just saying that she could put on a few pounds and still fit into her costumes. At least she didn’t do something drastic, instead she lost weight in a healthy way, even if she was taking the long view of her body. Hey, if she’s happy with herself, then who are we to judge?
Picture note by Celebitchy: Debra Messing is shown with her husband, Daniel Zelman, on 12/13/08 and 09/29/06. The 2006 photos are the heaviest photos I could find of her in a quick search and she looks great. Photo credits: WENN, 2008 photos, Juan Rico/Fame Pictures, 2006 photos
I always thought she was far too thin on Will & Grace. Thankfully, it doesn’t look like she’s gone back to that. She looks healthy and toned.
Hope she will keep that weight. She looks fantastic!
I hate to point this out, but Debra has been suspected by several gossip sites, most notably Lainey, to have had a belly band put on to finally lose those last few pounds. There are several different places this has been mentioned…it may not be true, but then again…It might.
She looks great in these pics, a good weight for her – at times on W&G she did look really bony and angular so this is a much better look for her.
I thought she’d battled an eating disorder in the past. Really- the woman has never been anything but some variation on tall and slender.
Doesn’t matter what we think if she can’t get a job because producers and co. think she’s gained too much weight – she’ll have to lose it.
That’s the long and short of it really.
I always think it’s pointless harrassing the actresses over their aggressive weight loss – it’s the industry that’s hiring them at a certain size.
I’m glad she’s honest about her weight issues and besides who has energy to work out everyday when dealing with a newborn. It took me five years to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. Glad she did it the old fashion way and took her time.
the starter wife is a horrible show. acting for debra messing seems to equal screaming and using wretched accents.
Yeah, I hate The Starter Wife too, but her husband’s show is awesome…
she looks good – and three years to lose baby weight is normal in the real world. only in LA would it be considered too long!
@ kate- so true!
in hollywood, if you dont lose the baby weight in 3 weeks, youre a heffer. ugh, i hate hate hate that. SO unrealistic.
she looks great!
I think she just probably wanted to weigh what she did before. I still have ten pounds of baby weight to lose from giving birth four and a half months ago. To myself, I look huge but I only weigh 122 at 5’3.
I just want to be able to fit into my old clothes again which I’m beginning to think is not possible because after you have a baby your weight re-distributes over your body.
Personally, I like how her weight has re-distributed. She is slender like she always has been but her body looks healthier!
I thought that losing baby weight normally takes a year. Three years seems too long a stretch. But you can ramp up that matabolism by breast feeding for at least six months, it will do the trick. I was weighing less than my pre-pregnancy weight when my baby was four months because I didn’t have time to eat as much as I needed to keep more weight on, I didn’t have any help and I was exhausted. Skinnier with more boobage. It was nice while it lasted.
And roughly a tenth of that time to go from a good career on a great TV show to a mediocre one.
She was unhealthy thin on Will & Grace (imo) although looking absolutely stunning at the moment. Lets hope she keeps herself healthy!
I haven’t seen a lot of Debra Messing lately but hope she is doing well with her healty eating habits. She was always too thin (bony – especially through the chest, neck and face.) She’s a beautiful woman and should never feel pressured to be too skinny (unhealty)by “Hollywood”. She has always looked better with more weight, softer features, softer angles…and is certainly tall enough to be able to handle any extra pounds. It is a prettier, healthier, softer and more approachable look that should never be sacrified to the “weight gods” who would have women looking bony or else feel “fat”. You go, Debra…keep a few pounds and lose the stress. You’ll feel better and look better.
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