In 2013, the hit TV show Glee‘s star Amber Riley, became the first black woman to win the long-running hit dancing competition show, Dancing With The Stars.
But her tremendous success didn’t stop the talk, or the criticism, about her weight.
Riley’s “DWTS” winner’s speech said it all: “I want to let women of all sizes out there know you can do whatever you put your mind to!” she said. “It doesn’t matter what size, what color you are — you can do whatever, whatever, whatever you put your mind to!”
Throughout the season, the actress had to deal with remarks from some viewers about her size.
“There were a couple [comments], like, ‘She danced well — for her size,'” Riley told In Touch. “I don’t want people to think that! I just want to dance well … I don’t think it should be an anomaly for a person my size to be able to dance or have confidence. Everybody should have confidence.”
She added that she had no desire to become a stick figure and definitely wants to keep some of her assets as is.
“I keep telling Derek [Hough], ‘If I lose my butt and my hips, you’re outta here!'” she joked.
The star added: “I think it’s amazing that I’m doing something positive, and I did something just because I wanted to learn how to dance just because I wanted to work out, you know what I mean? I wanted to be healthy. It was kind of a selfish reason.”
In 2017, Riley won the musical actress Olivier Award for her performance as Effie White in Dreamgirls at the Savoy Theatre, a production said to be heading for Broadway.
“At the time, no one was talking about putting it back on Broadway; that wasn’t the conversation. It was my agency who told me that they were doing Dreamgirls on the West End. My agent is…