Four people posing at a movie premiere: a bald man in brown coat, a tall blonde woman in black dress, a shorter bearded man in suit, and a tall man in blue blazer.
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TV + Movies

Gwyneth Paltrow’s Body Double in Shallow Hal Has Only Watched It Once, and the Role Left Lasting Harm

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Ivy Snitzer was a 20-year-old drama student when she stepped in as Gwyneth Paltrow’s body double for the “fat suit” scenes in 2001’s Shallow Hal. The film was a hit, but Snitzer has said she watched it exactly once — at the premiere — and never again.

Ivy Snitzer at the Los Angeles premiere of Shallow Hal in November 2001
Ivy Snitzer on the red carpet at the Los Angeles premiere of Shallow Hal, November 1, 2001. Photo by Vince Bucci / Getty Images.

In a 2023 interview, she described how the role made “the worst parts about being fat” feel “magnified,” and she has spoken openly about the severe eating disorder she developed afterward. Two decades later, the film is remembered less as a comedy than as a case study in how cruelly early-2000s pop culture treated bodies.

When Shallow Hal arrived in 2001, the joke was the fat suit — and the person it landed on hardest wasn’t really in on it.

Four people — a bald man in brown, a tall blonde woman in black, a shorter bearded man in a suit, and a tall man in a blue satin jacket — chat at a film premiere.
Jason Alexander, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jack Black, and Anthony Robbins gather together at the Shallow Hal premiere in Los Angeles, November 1, 2001. Photo by Vince Bucci / Getty Images.
Four people posing at a movie premiere: a bald man in brown coat, a tall blonde woman in black dress, a shorter bearded man in a suit and tie, and a tall man in a blue blazer.
Jason Alexander, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jack Black, and Tony Robbins line up at the Los Angeles premiere of Shallow Hal on November 1, 2001. Photo by Lucy Nicholson / AFP via Getty Images.

Snitzer was hired as Paltrow’s double for the scenes in which Paltrow’s character, Rosemary, appears as a plus-size woman. The Farrelly brothers’ comedy became a box-office hit, but in a 2023 interview with The Guardian, Snitzer said she has seen it only once, at the premiere, and isn’t “going to run out and rewatch it.” “It was like the worst parts about being fat were magnified,” she recalled. “And no one was telling me I was funny.”

She has been candid about what followed: a severe eating disorder that, as The Guardian put it, left her “starving to death” within two years of the film. Now an insurance-agency owner in Philadelphia, Snitzer speaks about the experience with striking grace rather than bitterness.

Gwyneth Paltrow in a black halter dress leans toward Jack Black in a suit and tie at a film premiere.
Gwyneth Paltrow leans in close to Jack Black as the pair arrive at the Los Angeles premiere of Shallow Hal on November 1, 2001. Photo by Lucy Nicholson / AFP via Getty Images.

Her story has become a touchstone for how differently audiences watch a movie like Shallow Hal today — not as a feel-good fable about “inner beauty,” but as a reminder of who paid for the punchline.

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Four people posing at a movie premiere: a bald man in brown coat, a tall blonde woman in black dress, a shorter bearded man in suit, and a tall man in blue blazer.
Vince Bucci Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
Ivy Snitzer at the Los Angeles premiere of Shallow Hal in November 2001
Ivy Snitzer on the red carpet at the Los Angeles premiere of Shallow Hal, November 1, 2001. Photo by Vince Bucci Getty Images.
Four people — a bald man in brown, a tall blonde woman in black, a shorter bearded man in a suit, and a tall man in a blue satin jacket — chat at a film premiere.
Jason Alexander, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jack Black, and Anthony Robbins gather together at the Shallow Hal premiere in Los Angeles, November 1, 2001. Photo by Vince Bucci Getty Images.
Four people posing at a movie premiere: a bald man in brown coat, a tall blonde woman in black dress, a shorter bearded man in a suit and tie, and a tall man in a blue blazer.
Jason Alexander, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jack Black, and Tony Robbins line up at the Los Angeles premiere of Shallow Hal on November 1, 2001. Photo by Lucy Nicholson AFP via Getty Images.
Gwyneth Paltrow in a black halter dress leans toward Jack Black in a suit and tie at a film premiere.
Gwyneth Paltrow leans in close to Jack Black as the pair arrive at the Los Angeles premiere of Shallow Hal on November 1, 2001. Photo by Lucy Nicholson AFP via Getty Images.

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About the author

January Nelson

January Nelson

January Nelson is a writer, editor, and dreamer. She writes about astrology, games, love, relationships, and entertainment. January graduated with an English and Literature degree from Columbia University.