Chrissy Metz, who plays Kate Pearson on This Is Us, is still getting used to her new found fame.
“It’s very strange,” Chrissy tells TV WEEK. “I can’t go anywhere without somebody stopping me, which is so cool that I get to connect to people that I never might have spoken to.”
In fact, for a long time, Chrissy felt that her acting career was a “fluke”. The 36-year-old has only recently come to terms with the idea that she’s finally living out her dreams.
“The [Golden] Globes was super exciting – I felt like oh, ‘I belong here,’” Chrissy admits.
Chrissy had a lot in common with her character Kate – a 36-year-old woman struggling with weight and self-esteem issues. While Kate’s weight issues are holding her back, Chrissy is now far more relaxed about her body.
“If I wasn’t overweight I wouldn’t be able to portray this character in such an authentic way,” she explains. “Actually feeling the un-comfortability when you sit down next to somebody on the airplane, that really lends itself to like an authenticity that is really hard to portray unless you have experienced that.”
Chrissy has learnt to be comfortable in her skin. And her perspective on her weight is refreshing.
“I wouldn’t be on the show if I wasn’t an overweight woman,” Chrissy says. “But while this is really difficult for me to navigate, it’s part of the reason why I am here, which is to teach, to navigate, to just relate.
“You can’t take this all so seriously, like come on, there’s a bigger picture, and it’s not just about ego and pride.”
Justin Hartley, Sterling K Brown and Chirssy Metz in This Is Us.
To get to where she is now, Chrissy is the first to admit she tried all the same classes, meetings and therapy sessions as Kate does on the show.
“Oh sure, sure I have been to meetings before,” Chrissy says. “Even with that Pound Fit class, I was like, ‘I am into this!’ There was something so cathartic about pounding something and then really releasing that anger.”
With her positive, down-to-earth attitude, it’s not surprising that Chrissy has become a role model to many.
“I think we all are role models, in the way that we handle a situation or the way that we talk to somebody or, we are all here to learn and teach from each other,” Chrissy says. “Really I feel like it’s just about relating to each other.”
