Calista Gets It Off Her Chest

Ally McBeal star Calista Flockhart thinks she knows why everyone's focused on how thin she is — she lacks the dress-packing distraction enjoyed by others in her field. "If I had big boobs, none of this would have happened," the actress tells George magazine when it's suggested that Hollywood is only interested in breasts and weight.

Many who struggle with being overweight contend that an anti-fat attitude is seen as the last acceptable prejudice, but Flockhart would put hatred of the skinny right up there, too. "[I]f you're thin, you somehow have it together, and that makes people mad," she says. "If you're thin, and you're healthy, there are certain people in the world who are going to be pissed off about it. It's discrimination. There's a double standard. In my life, a lot of people have said, 'Uchhhh! You're skinny!' As if they're just disgusted by it. But nobody would walk up to someone who's overweight and say, 'Ughhh! You're so fat!' "

Even with all of the rough treatment by the press, however, Flockhart still doesn't hold a grudge against the fourth estate.

"A lot of people have said to me lately, 'You poor baby, you've been so abused by the media. The media just suck,' " the actress says. "I don't think so. Some journalists are indeed irresponsible, and the tabloids are the tabloids — that's what they're there for. It really comes down to some journalists. And most people would say they're doing their job. I don't have a problem with that: I'm on a television show, and therefore I'm going to be written about. I accept that. There's nothing I can do about it." — Michael Peck