--- title: Shonda Rhimes on Attention After Losing Weight description: Discover the uncomfortable way people began treating Shonda Rhimes differently after she lost weight. canonical: https://time.com/4842166/shonda-rhimes-attention-after-weight-loss/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-30T17:47:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:05:46.228Z og:title: Shonda Rhimes Says People Didn’t Value Her Until She Lost Weight og:description: 'What the hell did they see me as before?’ og:url: https://time.com/4842166/shonda-rhimes-attention-after-weight-loss/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4967bb6b580b9c7b/6988d433fb4eacd9fe892bb5/shonda-rhimes-attention-after-weight-loss.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3140 og:image:height: 1766 og:image:alt: ABC's "Scandal" 100th Episode Celebration - Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Shonda Rhimes Says People Didn’t Value Her Until She Lost Weight twitter:description: 'What the hell did they see me as before?’ twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4967bb6b580b9c7b/6988d433fb4eacd9fe892bb5/shonda-rhimes-attention-after-weight-loss.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Shonda Rhimes Says People Didn’t Value Her Until She Lost Weight > Sponsored content. 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It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-worth-2026q3/newsletters?i=0a0fe4e5-ed40-49e5-8072-fe8e00dfb35e&cr=time-nl-worth-2026q3-v1) by [Anthea Levi / Health.com](https://time.com/author/health-com/) ## Anthea Levi / Health.com Contributor Jun 30, 2017 5:47 PM UTC  WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA - APRIL 08: Producer Shonda Rhimes attends ABC's "Scandal" 100th episode celebration at Fig & Olive on April 8, 2017 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic) WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA - APRIL 08: Producer Shonda Rhimes attends ABC's "Scandal" 100th episode celebration at Fig & Olive on April 8, 2017 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic) Jason LaVeris—FilmMagic by [Anthea Levi / Health.com](https://time.com/author/health-com/) ## Anthea Levi / Health.com Contributor Jun 30, 2017 5:47 PM UTC According to Shonda Rhimes, the only thing worse than shedding a lot of weight is getting the wrong kind of attention for it afterward. In a newsletter sent to [Shondaland](https://shondaland.com/) subscribers last week, Rhimes, 47, reveals that it wasn’t until she lost nearly 150 pounds that people seemed to find her “valuable.” Though the _Grey’s Anatomy_ and [_Scandal_](http://www.health.com/syndication/scandal-katie-lowes-reveals-psoriasis-diagnosis)creator dropped the weight about two years ago, she’s still stunned and disturbed by the way people, even strangers, reacted to her transformation. “I did not do it because I thought I would become beautiful like in the movies,” [Rhimes](http://www.health.com/anxiety/shonda-rhimes-social-anxiety) explains. “I did it because I could not walk up a short flight up stairs without stopping to take a break and wiping sweat from my brow. I did it because my body was physically rebelling against the brain that had been ignoring it for so long.” And don’t get her wrong, Rhimes still isn’t taken with #cleanliving. In fact, she loathed what it took to lose so many pounds. “Losing weight is not a topic I like discussing,” she writes. “Why? Because there is nothing fun or interesting or great about it. I hated losing weight. I hated every single second of it. And I hate every single second of [maintaining](http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20578117,00.html) my weight, too.” What Rhimes hated even more was how slimming down changed the way people reacted to her. “But you know what was worse than losing weight? What was SO MUCH MORE HORRIFYING? How people treated me after I lost weight,” she explains. “I mean, things got _weird,_” writes Rhimes. Especially when women she hardly knew gushed over her new look. “Like I was holding-a-new-baby-gushed. Only there was no new baby. It was just me. In a dress. With makeup on and my hair all _did,_ yes. But…still the same me.” Men began to take notice of Rhimes too, she recalls. “THEY SPOKE TO ME. Like stood still and had long conversations with me about things. It was disconcerting.” The newfound attention wasn’t the only thing that made this high-powered TV producer uncomfortable. She was also appalled by how breezily people commented on her appearance, calling her “hot” or telling her they were were “[proud](http://www.health.com/syndication/aly-raisman-body-pride-instagram) of her.” “After I lost weight, I discovered that people found me valuable. Worthy of conversation. A person one could look at. A person one could compliment. A person one could admire,” she continues. To Rhimes, it felt like others only considered her worthy of conversation once she looked a certain way. After that realization, she began to wonder. “What the hell did they see me as before? How invisible was I to them? How hard did they work to avoid me?” she writes. Of course Rhimes also infuses her newsletter with humor. While lamenting how hard it was to drop the 150 pounds, she says she misses eating “all the [fried chicken](http://www.health.com/health/video/0,,20854368,00.html),” and not just when it was on her plate. “No. I miss eating ALL THE FRIED CHICKEN,” she writes. “All of it. Every piece, everywhere.” Jokes aside, Rhimes makes a powerful point in a world where unrealistic body ideals are everywhere and a person’s size is often linked to their value. “Being thinner doesn’t make you a different person,” she says. “It just makes you thinner.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4842166/shonda-rhimes-attention-after-weight-loss/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4842166/shonda-rhimes-attention-after-weight-loss/"},"headline":"Shonda Rhimes Says People Didn’t Value Her Until She Lost Weight","datePublished":"2017-06-30T17:47:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:05:46.228Z","description":"'What the hell did they see me as before?’","url":"https://time.com/4842166/shonda-rhimes-attention-after-weight-loss/","keywords":["motto","Weight loss","shonda rhimes"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4967bb6b580b9c7b/6988d433fb4eacd9fe892bb5/shonda-rhimes-attention-after-weight-loss.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Anthea Levi / Health.com"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4967bb6b580b9c7b/6988d433fb4eacd9fe892bb5/shonda-rhimes-attention-after-weight-loss.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"ABC's \"Scandal\" 100th Episode Celebration - Arrivals","caption":"ABC's \"Scandal\" 100th Episode Celebration - Arrivals","creditText":"Jason LaVeris—FilmMagic","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4842166/shonda-rhimes-attention-after-weight-loss/","name":"Shonda Rhimes Says People Didn’t Value Her Until She Lost Weight"}}]}] ```