Photo by Chris Pizzello/Associated Press
Gabourey Sidibe, who plays the title character in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire," poses at the premiere of the film at AFI Fest 2009 in Los Angeles, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009.
Photo by Chris Pizzello/Associated Press
Gabourey Sidibe, who plays the title character in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire," poses at the premiere of the film at AFI Fest 2009 in Los Angeles, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009.
The first time I saw Gabourey Sidibe, I couldn’t believe how big she was.
I’d read the book (” Push” ) by Sapphire. I knew Precious was obese. I just never thought they would find an actress to fill those shoes.
Known to fans as Gabby, she more than channeled the sexually abused, illiterate girl at the center of “Precious,” the film version of Sapphire’s novel. She earned an Oscar nomination alongside Meryl Streep and Sandra Bullock, no less.
People have confused her with Precious. But the only thing she has in common with the character is that they both are big and from Harlem.
I figured that out the first time I saw her speak on a red carpet. It’s as if a cheerleader were hiding within. People might expect her to be shy, insecure or soft-spoken. Wrong.
This girl is confident, charismatic and smart. And she’s funny. Not self-deprecating, fat girl funny, either.
Gabby held her own alongside the cynical Chelsea Handler on “Chelsea Lately” recently. The two openly joked about cuddling, eating dim sum dumplings and watching Lifetime together. When Chris Rock grabbed her butt at the NAACP Image Awards, she chalked it up to her own fineness.
If you didn’t see her and only heard her speak, you’d envision Julia Roberts, Drew Barrymore or Gabrielle Union. That’s how beautiful she actually is.
By the time she sat down with Jimmy Kimmel last week, I was a full-fledged fan of the young starlet.
But not everyone believes Hollywood is ready for a big girl.
Vanity Fair snubbed her. And Joan Rivers stumbled over her thoughts during the “Fashion Police” recap, finally resting on the opinion that Gabby looked the best she could.
Some people defend her because of her size, and others persecute her for it. But she’s so much more than her physical body.
When Howard Stern opened his mouth last week and said she was “the most enormous, fat black chick” he’s ever seen, people took issue.
The controversial jock claims she has no future in films unless she plays a football player. He went on to say Oprah should have encouraged her to lose some weight. He’s not alone. Other insiders have jumped on the Gabby-doesn’t-stand-a-chance bandwagon.
People said the same thing to Mo’Nique, Jennifer Hudson and Queen Latifah, too.
You think Gabby’s unaware of her weight? She didn’t gain those pounds overnight, and she won’t lose them quickly, either. I’m pretty sure she wants to be healthy.
People better get used to her star shining big and bright. She has already scored a recurring role on a new Showtime series, “The Big C,” and completed her next movie, “Yelling to the Sky.”
It’s time we stop focusing on the size of her waist and look at the depth of her talent.
Stern is right about one thing. She didn’t look like the rest of those red carpet favorites sitting in the audience at the Oscars.
She’s not waif-thin or trying to bend and twist to meet a sick, sad perception of beauty.
No.Gabby is more comfortable in her skin than most supermodels. And to have Hollywood celebrate you for who you are and what you’ve done instead of how you look? That’s admirable.
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