Actress Nia Vardalos has fired off at Hollywood executives who greenlight film romances featuring "fat" Russell Crowe and Seth Rogen and then poke fun at her for finding love with hunks on the big screen.
The My Big Fat Greek Wedding star is tired of Tinseltown's double standards when it comes to pairing up stars for movie love stories - because older women can't get away with dating hunks, while ageing actors regularly romance hotties.
And she's had enough of the questions about her own onscreen match-ups with the likes of John Corbett and My Life In Ruins co-star Alexis Georgoulis.
She tells CNN, "On the publicity tour of My Big Fat Greek Wedding I was asked over and over again, if, as the writer, I felt it was a fair depiction of real life to have someone of my below average looks, hook up with hottie John Corbett.
"I thought I was attractive when I shot My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Studio executives and movie reviewers let me know I had a confidence in my looks that was not shared by them. In other words, they labelled me with words like, overweight, unattractive, unappealing. Hey, just say fat. I love the word fat. I used it in the title. It’s actually not a naughty word.
"I have sat through many a movie like Sideways, where nobody blinks an eye when Paul Giamatti gets together with gorgeous Virginia Madsen, and Knocked Up. I mean the visual of Seth Rogen on top of Katherine Heigl made me put the popcorn down and reach for my purse... because I knew the film was about to stop and Ashton Kutcher would now jump out and go, 'Aha, you’ve been punked.' I waited, but no Ashton.
"Socially, the issue of men’s weight is simply not a big deal. Let’s face it, Russell Crowe is fat and no one ever talks about it. Alec Baldwin just orders his suits a size bigger and we continue to swoon.
"Meanwhile, I get hit with this awkward question about my weightloss daily and I have answered it in press interviews, at the grocery store, at the newspaper stand. Why? Because I see their (people) anxious, open faces needing the secret, the new pill, the cure, anything: 'Just please share the secret'. So I hesitantly answer and I am always met with the same response: the glaze-eye, slack-jawed face.
"They don’t want to hear the truth - I had a blood sugar problem, so my doctor ordered me to lose weight. It was really hard but I did it through diet and exercise, and it took a year."