Debra Messing Revealed She Went From A Size 8 To A Size 2 On "Will & Grace" After Feeling Pressured To Lose Weight

"I was standing next to all of these other actresses who were half my size, and I felt fat, and I felt ugly."

You probably know Debra Messing from her iconic role on Will & Grace or her *gets onto my soapbox* GONE-TOO-SOON fan-favorite show, Smash.

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Not to mention The Mysteries of Laura!!! Am I the world's biggest Debra Messing fan?? Maybe.

Anyway, the 51-year-old recently spoke with Jameela Jamil on her podcast I Weigh, and revealed she struggled with her body image while filming Will & Grace in the '90s.

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The show originally aired from 1998–2006, but was rebooted in 2017 for three additional seasons. The series finale aired in April.

“When I started Will & Grace," she began, "I was a size 8 and what happened was, every time I would go in for a fitting, I couldn’t fit into clothes. Eighty percent of it I couldn’t fit into, and I would just leave hating my body and hating myself."

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"I loved my costume designer. She would always say, ‘Don’t worry,’ and she would talk to her assistant and say, ‘OK, can you call over and get a larger size?’ And that was sort of the thing that was always on repeat all the time,” she added.

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“So of course, I thought, ‘My life would be so much easier, and it would be easier on everybody trying to do their job, if I just lost weight."

"So I started doing yoga every single day and I did one of those meal delivery services. I started to get smaller and then I was a 6, and they were like, ‘You’re losing weight, you look amazing!’” she continued.

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Debra went on to explain that, in addition to the show, walking red carpets contributed to her feeling pressured to lose even more weight.

I was lucky enough to be invited on the red carpet to the Emmys and the Golden Globes, and that was the same time that Ally McBeal was at its height and Calista [Flockhart] was the "It" girl and Portia de Rossi also was so, so slim — and she’s spoken openly about her anorexia — so it’s all within sort of the same theme. I would try to fit into these gowns and of course they weren’t sample sizes, and it was like, "OK, we have to let out the seams, etc.”

“This was supposed to be the greatest time of my life, being nominated for Best Actress in a TV show I loved for an Emmy, and walking on the red carpet," the actor said. "I walked out and I immediately felt so incredible, and then I was standing next to all of these other actresses who were half my size, and I felt fat, and I felt ugly."

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“I was way too skinny…but, you know, going in for those fittings, I fit into everything...I literally could fit into anything that was high fashion. So all of a sudden, everything seemed to open up for me, because I was a 2.”

"I look back at those pictures and I was beautiful! I mourn the fact that that was my interpretation of reality, and that was the torture that I put myself through.”

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Ugh, I wish society didn't make it so hard for us to accept our amazing selves just as we are.

Then, now, and forever, you are a gorgeous queen!!

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