According to Facts of Life alum Nancy McKeon, “there was a lot” of focus surrounding the main cast’s weight and body types.
“Each one of us had to deal with things in our own way,” McKeon, 58, told Page Six in an interview published on Sunday, February 2, claiming that there were often discussions about the cast’s diet plans and how much they should weigh.
McKeon, who famously portrayed tomboy Jo Polniaczek on the nine-season sitcom, did not further detail the specific comments. Facts of Life was initially set at the Eastland School for Young Women boarding school as caretaker Mrs. Garrett (Charlotte Rae) watched over students Blair (Lisa Whelchel), Tootie (Kim Fields), Natalie (Mindy Cohn) and, by season 2, Jo (McKeon). The beloved series, a spinoff of Diff’rent Strokes, ran on NBC from 1979 to 1988.
Since many of the Facts of Life story lines centered around puberty and the Eastland students growing up, McKeon found it ironic that their weight was so heavily criticized.
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“There’s so much development [during those years],” McKeon told Page Six, explaining that, at the time, she didn’t want to voice any concern. “That’s why it’s called show business, it’s a business, and they wanted what they wanted. But we’re also human beings and the fact is everybody comes in all shapes and sizes and everybody needs to be represented.”
She added, “There is no one ideal [body]. There should be an embrace of every body.”
Whelchel, 61, faced similar pressures, claiming to Yahoo! Entertainment in May 2023 that show producers encouraged her to attend a “fat farm” during the show’s hiatus on three occasions.
“Obviously, we’re in a different time. We’ve learned a lot. We’re a lot more body-positive right now, which I’m grateful for. I mean it’s still an issue,” Whelchel recalled to the outlet. “But certainly as a teenager [that] was a lot. Though even back then I understood it’s a business. They hired me to play a certain character that looked a certain way.”
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According to Whelchel, it was “really, really hard” to battle her internal struggles while acting on The Facts of Life.
“I was going through puberty and my parents were going through a divorce and I was living in California and they were in Texas, so there was emotional eating involved,” she said. “All the things that are not atypical of teenage girls. But I think everybody was doing the best they could back then. And as Maya Angelou said, ‘When you know better, you do better.’”
