Jessie Cave, Lavender Brown From Harry Potter Films, Says She Was Treated Like A ‘Different Speices’ After Gaining Weight
For many of us, Harry Potter has been so much more than just fiction. I can speak for myself, about how this story of a boy wizard has taught me some valuable lessons, an important one being acceptance of people for who they are—wizards, witches, pureblood, half-bloods, it doesn’t matter. But does this acceptance extend to body types too? Apart from Hagrid, who is a half-giant, and Dudley, who has often been compared to a pig, the Harry Potter books and films are devoid of, well, body inclusivity. But now, according to the revelations by Jessie Cave, the actor who played Gryffindor student Lavender Brown in the movies, she was treated on the film set in ways that caused her major discomfort, after she gained weight.
Fans will be aware that in the Harry Potter books, Lavender Brown is a constant presence alongside the Parvati Patil, gets involved with Ron Weasley in Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince, and then dies at the end of Book 7. Jessie Cave first appeared in the sixth film in the franchise, until of course, The Deathly Hallows Part 2, where Lavender Brown is killed by the werewolf Fenrir Greyback during the Battle of Hogwarts.
However, her character’s death notwithstanding, shooting Deathly Hallows 2 was quite a difficult experience for Jessie Cave. In an interview with The Independent, Jessie talked about how she put on weight during the last two films and she was “treated like a different species” on the set because of it.
“I gained a lot of weight after doing Harry Potter, just because I wasn’t starving myself. And I was growing up and that’s just what happens. I was treated like a different species. It was horrible.”
She implied that the discomfort might’ve been her own severe judgement of herself. But nevertheless, it was not easy.
“It was probably more me and my insecurity, knowing that I wasn’t fitting into the same size jeans, but it wasn’t a time where actresses were any bigger than a size eight. And in the previous film I had been, and now I was a size 12. So that was horrible. It was a really uncomfortable experience,” Cave said.
Also Read: J.K. Rowling’s Transphobic Tweets Are A Disservice To Her Own Work And It’s Got Harry Potter Fans Miffed
The actor has now written her first novel, called Sunset, and she happily credits this shift in her career trajectory to her weight gain. “If I’d stayed thin, unnaturally thin, unhappily thin, I would have probably got more acting roles, and then I wouldn’t have started writing. And then I don’t know who I would be now because writing is who I am. I’m almost grateful that I gained all that weight.”
View this post on Instagram
As if gaining weight isn’t bogging us down already, the weight of people’s expectations that we’d be ashamed of it, want to make it right, and all the taunts and advice they want to give us, is an additional burden that we didn’t ask for. And yet it is piled on our shoulders every time. Now that the world has begun opening up, people are putting out body positivity disclaimers caution anyone from remarking on people’s bodies post lockdown. You know, because mental health has taken priority over the ‘summer bod’. And that’s exactly why we need body positivity, because people need to understand that unless you are someone’s doctor, you have absolutely no right to pass comments on people’s bodies.
We’re glad Jessie Cave found happiness in the darkest of times (Harry Potter reference!). But here’s hoping we can change the conversation around weight for the better. Because frankly, it is Riddikulus.
