Writer, illustrator, and Harry Potter actress, Jessie Cave, otherwise known as Lavender Brown in the series, recently spoke out about the pressures she faced while growing up on the film sets. She mentioned how weight gain evolved into some ‘uncomfortable’ experiences.
Jessie spoke to The Independent about her new novel, Sunset, and her time as an actress, as well as the unrealistic body image ideals she faced. “I gained a lot of weight after doing Harry Potter, just because I wasn’t starving myself,” she admitted. “And I was growing up and that’s just what happens.”
She continued to share that when she returned to film The Deathly Hallows (parts one and two), that she was treated differently. “I was treated like a different species. It was horrible,” Jessie recalled. “It was probably more me and my insecurity, knowing that I wasn’t fitting into the same size jeans, but it wasn’t a time where actresses were any bigger than a size eight. And in the previous film I had been, and now I was a size 12. So that was horrible, it was a really uncomfortable experience.”
Jessie then opened up about what it was like after the movies ended and the light that had been shone on her – in her words – “goes off”, and how once again, she felt her changing body impacted by the way she was seen.
“You get a bit bigger, or you’re not as relevant, and it [the light] goes off, and you have to make your way in the dark,” she explained. “I definitely felt invisible when I gained a little bit of weight. And since then, it’s made me have weird issues with weight and work. And it’s so fucked up, but it’s just how it is. Women have to deal with that all the time.”
The talented mother-of-three explained that her body image issues began before her role as Lavender Brown, calling out Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow and Courteney Cox in Friends as influential.
“They were minuscule, they were so thin and for years I put it down to, ‘Oh they must be naturally small, they’re just lucky’,” she said. “And now it’s obvious that they were just so starved.”
Jessie also mentioned how the competitive film industry can dent a person’s self-esteem. “It’s like going on a million first dates, them going brilliantly, and then you never hear from them again,” she said. “I definitely went crazy in my early twenties, thinking, ‘But they said they liked me and that I was perfect for it?’ But then you realize there’s 100 other girls who are as good as you if not better, maybe prettier, maybe thinner, and they’re perfect for it.”
However, it seems like Jessie is much happier with the way her life turned out. She mentioned that if she’d remained in a smaller body, her life might have turned out differently.
“If I’d stayed thin – unnaturally thin, unhappily thin – I would have probably got more acting roles, and then I wouldn’t have started writing,” she shared. “And then I don’t know who I would be now because writing is who I am. I’m almost grateful that I gained all that weight.”
Way to look on the bright side, Jessie. Her candor and positive thinking is worth admiring.
