She’s the creative force between such TV megahits as Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and How To Get Away With Murder.
But that didn’t stop people from dismissing her because of her weight, Shonda Rhimes, 47, has revealed during a candid post on her recently launched Shondaland website on Sunday.
The TV hitmaker admitted in the post that after she lost between 100 and 150 pounds ‘things got weird’.
Before and after: Shonda Rhimes has revealed in an impassioned post how she was treated differently after losing between 100 and 150 lbs (pictured left in 2012 and right in 2017)
The television writer/producer wrote of how ‘women I barely knew gushed’ and how men finally ‘spoke to me’ following her body transformation.
She added: ‘Like stood still and had long conversations with me about things. It was disconcerting.
‘But even more disconcerting was that all these people suddenly felt completely comfortable talking to me about my body.’
Slimmed down: The showrunner, 47, (pictured in April 2017) admitted that once she lost weight ‘things got weird’
Thinking thin: The mother-of-three revealed the pain of dieting, writing: ‘Losing weight is annoying and hard and painful and no fun’
In the article, the mother of three revealed the pain of dieting, writing: ‘Losing weight is annoying and hard and painful and no fun.
‘But you know what was worse than losing weight? What was SO MUCH MORE HORRIFYING? How people treated me after I lost weight.
‘All these people suddenly felt completely comfortable talking to me about my body. Telling me I looked “pretty” or that they were “proud of me” or that “wow, you are so hot now” or “you look amazing!”’
Perspectives: The Emmy-award nominee wrote that she had ‘discovered that NOW people saw me as a PERSON’
The Emmy-award nominee wrote that she had ‘discovered that NOW people saw me as a PERSON’.
She explained: ‘What the hell did they see me as before? How invisible was I to them then? How hard did they work to avoid me?
‘When I was fat, I wasn’t a PERSON to these people. Like I had been an Invisible Woman who suddenly materialized in front of them. Poof! There I am. Thin and ready for a chat.’
Treated differently: The writer of Britney Spears vehicle Crossroads revealed: ‘These days, I feel like a chunky spy in a thinner world. Strangers tell fat jokes in front of me’
The writer revealed: ‘These days, I feel like a chunky spy in a thinner world. Strangers tell fat jokes in front of me.
‘Jokes not meant for me. But… completely for the woman I used to be 150 pounds ago.
‘The woman I could be again one day. The woman I will always be inside.
‘Because being thinner doesn’t make you a different person. It just makes you thinner.’
Breathless: Rhimes admits ‘being thinner doesn’t make you a different person. It just makes you thinner’ (pictured April 2017)
The impassioned article is one of the first on the showrunner’s new website. Shondaland.com.
According to the site’s Who We Are section, Shondaland.com will provide ‘a home for complex articles and honest conversations beyond the fictional space.’
The DGA award-winning director took to Instagram on Monday to promote the site.
She posted a snap of herself holding a cell phone displaying the Shondaland.com home page. It was captioned: ‘Right now! Shondaland.com is live! Go! See!’
New venture: The DGA award winning director took to Instagram on Monday to promote her shondaland.com site