From Rosie O'Donnell's Blog:

earlier this evening
kirstie alley told matt lauer
that her fattest was 201
I almost choked on my yodel
I am 220
fess up kirstie - 201 my ass
i started to fume


Having seen many photos of Kirstie Alley at her high weight, I would have to say that I agree with Rosie (although this would be the first time I CAN say I agree with Rosie about anything). Kirstie Alley is 5'7". I realize that tabloid photos are taken intentionally to be as unflattering as possible, but come on ... 201? Who on earth does she think she's fooling here?

And Rosie is also right in stating in interviews that Kirstie currently claims to have lost 20 pounds with Jenny Craig (http://www.jennycraig.com/kirstie/) which would make her what, 181 now? Ummm ... No. I'm sorry, but no.

So, I'm confused. Is Kirstie's message supposed to be that it's okay to be a "fat actress?" Or is it to love yourself even while trying to hide and change who you really are? Or is there no message at all besides "haha, I'm big and still earning a paycheck in Hollywood!"

I could have supported Kirstie deciding to buck the Hollywood stereotypes, to stay big and just be happy that way. I could have supported a decision from her to be public about her weight struggles as she worked to bring her weight down. However, her decision to lie about her actual weight, IMO, is a big fat slap in the face to the very women that she purports to champion.

I also feel that the direction that her TV show, "Fat Actress," has taken, is cheap, exploitative, and in very bad taste (if that's the phrase). From a review of the show:

"Early in last week's Fat Actress Alley bent over, her giant behind filling the screen. She sits clueless in front of some studio heads while they exclaim her pitch for a show will be "enormous" and "huge." She begs Travolta to do Look Who's Talking 4 -- "we haven't explored all the possibilities!" she mock-pleads and gets her assistants to rip the plus-size Lane Bryant tags out of her clothes and replace them with ones reading Prada, size eight."

The show has also used such topics as bulimia as punch lines, where co-star Kelly Preston informs Kirstie that all she has to do is purge to lose weight.

Wow. Way to advocate, Kirstie. I'm going to have to reject her as spokeswoman for overweight women everywhere ... as far as I can see, we've all managed to struggle with our weight with far more dignity and self respect than this woman. And we didn't get million dollar contracts to do it with.