Entertainment

James Corden Wants You To Know He Gets Judged For His Looks, Too

by Anna Menta
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James Corden is opening up about something you don't often hear the men of Hollywood talk about: fat-phobia.

If you're not familiar with the term, it basically just means the cruelty and discrimination that people above a certain jean size face every day.

Fat-phobia particularly affects women, because of how much value society places on the female body and its appearance.

Ask any woman in Hollywood — or look at any woman in Hollywood – it's obvious how much pressure actresses feel to be skinny.

But James Corden has an important reminder for us in his recent interview with Esquire: Men are affected by fat-phobia, too, especially in Hollywood.

In the interview, the 38-year-old host of "The Late Late Show" walks through his career, and recalls some frustrations along the way — like the limited choices of roles he was offered as an actor.

After Corden appeared in the wildly successful stage show "The History Boys" — in the West End, on Broadway and in the film adaptation — he noticed his cast mates getting amazing opportunities, while he was... not.

Fox Searchlight Pictures

He said,

When 'The History Boys' became the hottest play in London, there were eight boys of a similar age, and they were all getting these massive film scripts. And I would get the one page of a script for a guy who drops off a television to Hugh Grant, or who works at a newsstand and sells a paper to Julianne Moore. And I was like, 'None of this is based on ability or charisma. It's only about how I look, and about the assumption that people who look like that don't fall in love in as nice a way as others. People who look like that are not as interesting.'

Obviously, things worked out OK for Corden in the end, fame-wise.

But it's an important reminder of some issues Hollywood (and society) still needs to work on — like treating fat people like normal human beings.

Citations: James Corden Is in the Driver's Seat (Esquire)