Interview with Joy Nash

Rebecca Jennings Chats with Joy Nash

Joy Nash is an attractive young woman who’s outspoken, unabashed, irreverent… and currently at the forefront of an empowering phenomenon: Fat Rants. Speaking out in a way just about everyone can relate to, Joy uses humor, plain talk and irony to inspire and entertain as she addresses perceptions and prejudices about body weight and self image.

An actress, model and writer, Joy’s Fat Rants have become a viral sensation airing all over the Internet on sites including YouTube, her MySpace playbacks, and our own Curvy Confidential blog. I was especially delighted to meet with Joy to do a photo shoot and talk about life, lingerie, and living in L.A. We’re all looking forward to her newest video coming out, Fat Rant 3 – Staircase Wit.

RJ: How many hits did you get when you did the first Fat Rant?

JN: I think about 1.3 million.

RJ: Wow, that’s a lot! So you’re an instant celebrity!

JN: Yeah, it was really overwhelming. I was not expecting any of it at all, and there are a lot of things that I would have done differently to be more prepared.

RJ: Really, like what?

JN: There was this influx of emails and offers, and there were so many people coming at me. I was really kind of freaked out!

RJ: (laughs) I think we were one of the ones who came after you!

JN: (laughs)

RJ: We tried again later when things had calmed down a little and we are so excited that you came out to do the shoot with us!

JN: I’m so happy to!

RJ: So what made you do Fat Rant? Were there a lot of things that led up to it or one particular incident that finally put you over the top where you said, “I have to do this”?

JN: Yeah there were a number of things. I wrote it probably 7 years ago at USC for a solo performance class. At the time I think I was a sophomore in college and had unlimited Internet for the first time ever! So I found all these Websites for BBW’s (Big Beautiful Women), peoples’ homepages on geocities and things like that, and their comments and guest books were filled with all this glowing praise from men and women all over the world… and I was shocked that here are people who are being praised for how they look! They love them not in spite of how they look but because of the way they look, and I was really pissed off that I was 18 years old and no one had ever even suggested that this might be possible!

RJ: We get tons of emails from men (and women) and they’re like, “Thank God these are real women and not lettuce-chomping models! I love women with curves! No hipbones poking through when we’re being romantic!” And a lot of them ask, “My wife is so phenomenally gorgeous and curvy. How do I get her to feel better about her body???” The men love it and a lot of the women are still carrying the message around that they have to be thin.

JN: I feel that way myself half the time, like I can’t believe that someone really likes me, you know?

RJ: We’ll have to show you some of the emails!! In Fat Rant you look so comfortable with your body. What is your body image like now? Are you totally loving it all the time, or are you still struggling with it?

JN: I don’t think anybody can love it completely, 900% of the time.

RJ: Yes, I think it’s pretty challenging, especially in this society.

JN: Yeah. In general I’m not upset with myself and the way that I look. You know, things change as you get older and as things change I’m surprised, like I didn’t used to be that way! (laughs) And then, you gotta learn to love it ‘cause it’s you. What else are you gonna do?

RJ: We’re a lingerie company, as you know, so I have to ask you a few lingerie questions! What kind of panties do you wear – boy shorts, thongs?

JN: (laughs) Umm, I have quite a collection!!!

RJ: We love to hear that!

JN: I think obviously fit is the most important thing. I have a lot of them. I wear them in a rotation. I have my drawer filled and I wear them all till they’re all dirty, and then I do the laundry and then wear them all again! (laughs)

RJ: (laughs) I get happy when I’m wearing colored underwear, even if no one sees it!

JN: Yes! Yes! That’s one thing, I don’t have any basics – no white, no beige.

RJ: No granny panties!

JN: No!

RJ: So, did you see that movie Bridget Jones’s Diary?

JN: I didn’t, but I think I saw the clip you are talking about!!!

RJ: (laughs) Where she’s going on a date and she’s holding up the little black thong and the ugly shapewear and says, “I know if I wear the thong I won’t get laid tonight but if I wear the shapewear I will”?

JN: Well, the shapewear is going to make her act differently.

RJ: Right! That’s exactly how it is, how you are going to feel about yourself. So when you go on a date, what do you wear?

JN: It depends on what I have in mind for the evening’s activities! (laughs)

RJ: Let’s say it’s a second, third of fourth date.

JN: (whispers) I don’t want to tell you that!!! (laughs)

RJ: I just have to ask you. I can keep it mysterious if you want!

JN: Well, I want to wear underwear that I am proud of!

RJ: (laughs) Push up bra?

JN: Oh, always!

RJ: So you’re a model and an actress. What kind of modeling? What kind of acting?

JN: Well, plus size modeling, of course.

RJ: Have you done lingerie before?

JN: I have not!

RJ: Oh! A first!

JN: I’m nervous!

RJ: Well, we do it in the middle of the day in a studio full of people!

JN: I keep telling myself that if I don’t look good, you won’t look good, so you won’t use anything that’s crappy!

RJ: Of course, we want women to look good and feel good, and we’d never put a photo up that a model didn’t want us to. We totally respect them. We want people to want to work with us!

JN: That’s really cool of you!

RJ: So what kind of acting do you do?

JN: I do all different kinds. I like comedy a lot.

RJ: Yes, I saw some really great videos, “Fruit & Fly”?

JN: Yes! A (gay) friend, Michael Mullen, and I got tired of having nothing to do, so we wrote a whole bunch of sketches centered around (the fact that) he’s gay and I’m his “fag hag”. I shouldn’t use that word! I think a lot of people would agree that there’s a (kind of) symbiosis between fat girls and gay men.

RJ: (laughs) Interesting!

JN: You know, I’ve talked to other people about this – we’re misfits. We’re a little bit on the fringe, both of us, and it’s something you bond over.

RJ: Right, that’s true. You have some shared experiences.

JN: And he is hysterical. It’s ridiculous, so it was super, super fun (to do). We just wrote a bunch of sketches and gathered up our crew of two people and shot ‘em!

RJ: And obviously his parents know he’s gay?

JN: Yes. They are great people. They were there (during) the whole shoot. They catered our craft service table and everything. It was really cool!

RJ: Did you get any email responses that really touched you?

JN: Oh yeah, tons! It’s kind of overwhelming. I think on my MySpace page, I’ve gotten like 10,000 emails or something, and they’re hugely personal and overwhelmingly positive. And it gets to a point where I can’t reply to everyone, and then it’s like, I can’t reply to anybody!

RJ: Is there one thing you’d like to say to everyone who responds?

JN: Oh wow. I mean, I guess that they’re not alone. What it seems like is, what a lot of people got from the video is, that they’ve been thinking these things for ages. (They write) “This is what I tell all my friends! Thank you for putting it in a succinct way… that I can send it off to my friends and get the message heard.” It’s kind of funny, right after I’d written the thing 6 years or so ago, I’d meet new people and have conversations like, “Does this make my ass look fat?” And I’d say, “What’s wrong with being fat?”

RJ: And what would the response be?

JN: Just like shock or back peddling or, “Well, I’m… well, you’re not fat.” Actually, here’s a little secret… I am fat. Yes, I am, and what’s more, so are you! (I had) friends who had heard my thoughts, and friends who hadn’t… the friends I was “out” to, and the friends I wasn’t. Making (the videos) and being so public about it really has made me “out” to everybody, and it’s kind of freeing. And it’s awesome that I don’t have to have those little fights about it: “Oh if you’re fat then I’m like obese!” “No, no, no, you’re not fat… this is fat!” So annoying!!! (laughs)

RJ: Do you think that society’s changing as a whole or are we at least moving in the right direction towards accepting our bodies? For so long it’s been ‘double zero’ and I don’t even understand what that means.

JN: Yeah! It’s insulting.

RJ: And most people aren’t a (size) ‘double zero’.

JN: Even to the people who are, what is that label saying about you? That’s not kind. You’re not ‘nothing’.

RJ: It’s really like saying you’re ‘disappearing’. You’re not there, and ‘the smaller the better’… so many people strive to be that. Being naturally thin is one thing, but the part that upsets me is that women are starving to be unnatural and hurting their bodies and not loving themselves. So do you think we’re changing at all?

JN: Hopefully. I’m sticking my foot in the door!

RJ: You’re doing a huge part!

JN: I think that there’s a lot of resistance definitely, but I think that people are becoming wiser about how they are being manipulated. They call it the “fatosphere in the blogosphere”. There is a group of bloggers that are blogging about size acceptance and fat rights and things like that. It’s really exploded in the last year or so. There are a couple of blogs (I like). My favorite site is called Shapely Prose, http://kateharding.net/ by Kate Harding.

RJ: Oh, we’ve sent her T-shirts!

JN: Yeah, she’s fabulous! So smart and so cool! I met her when I happened to be in Chicago and I called her up and we hung out! Anyway, my point is that through people like her, who are blogging on a daily basis, people are definitely getting the word out and wising up to the fact that they don’t have to be a certain way. You can be healthy… and that’s it! There’s also Maryanne Kirby who runs www.therotund.com, and there are tons of others out there… www.bigfatblog.com… I feel bad if I namedrop one and not all the others! There’s at least a hundred (all saying) you don’t have to be thin, you don’t have to be fat. You just are yourself, what you are. Live a healthy lifestyle and that’s what you get.

RJ: Part of it is self-acceptance and not the self-hate.

JN: Mental health is a part of self-health, absolutely.

RJ: So what do you love best about your hips and curves?

JN: Wow, I haven’t thought about that!

RJ: We’ll ask you again after the photo shoot!

JN: Yes, let me let it cook! (thinking) I definitely love the way I fill out clothing and the attention that I get!

RJ: See! How do you feel about living in L.A.? Is it harder here?

JN: This is the only place that I’ve lived really, but I’ve traveled a lot and I definitely feel like it’s different. It’s funny… I was traveling doing the Fat Rant monologue in a show called “The Art of Being”. It’s a really cool show. My friend Adrianna Garza put it together. It was 10 monologues written by the actors, 10 original pieces about art and the way that we see the world. Michael was in it too! So through that I got to perform across Texas. We went to Chicago (and) all over. I’ve noticed that other audiences are more readily acceptable. When I perform in L.A., it’s silent. You can hear a pin drop. Afterwards, people come up and say, “Oh, God, thank you!” They accept it (and) they like it, but in Texas they are laughing out loud. I feel like it’s less of a taboo to think that way.

RJ: So in L.A. people are afraid that they are going to laugh out loud?

JN: It’s so strange. It’s like you’ve never heard somebody say that before. That’s how I feel, anyway, not caring if someone thinks your fat. Like, “Did you just call yourself fat? Don’t do that! No, you’re so pretty!” You know? It’s interesting. It’s kinda cool, too, because it’s a super powerful place to be. My friend has been in a number of ‘naked’ plays and he talks about how empowering that is. You feel like you can do anything when you’re standing up there with your clothes off. I feel like (what I do is) a similar thing (only) clothed, thankfully! I feel unstoppable.

RJ: (laughs) You have such beautiful life energy and I’m sure that comes across on stage.

JN: Thanks!