The Indianapolis Star:
She rose above body image to sate true hunger
By John J. Shaughnessy
Jessica Weiner’s laugh hits full throttle – rich and deep – as she cruises along the highway toward the latest stop in her 23-city tour across America.
Speaking on her cell phone as she drives through western Pennsylvania, the 29-year-old former Indianapolis resident is touring the country to promote her first book, “A Very Hungry Girl: How I Filled Up On Life…And How You Can, Too!”
It’s just one part of the remarkable journey that is her life now. Besides the book, she’s developing a national television talk show aimed at young people and the issues that mark their lives. She’s already down praise from The Hollywood Reporter as the “next Oprah Winfrey” for the MTV generation.
The woman whose first job in Indianapolis was selling women’s clothes at a mall is also planning a line of clothing called Curvy Girl.
“Every day is a magnificent day for me,” she says. “The destructive path that I was on as a young woman – feeling alone, feeling isolated, destroying my body – that struggle could have ended my life. But it didn’t. Now I get to spend my life reaching out to others who feel the same way.”
This weekend, Weiner’s book tour will lead her back to Indianapolis, the place she credits with starting her on the road to making a difference in the lives of young people, particularly young females who have to fight eating disorders and the unrealistic body images promoted by media, fashion and the popular culture.
She knows that Americans spend more that $40 billion a year on diet-related products and that 45 percent of American women are on a diet, according to statistics from the National Eating Disorders Organization.
She also knows that more than 80 percent of American women are unhappy with their looks, including about 5 million to 10 million who struggle with anorexia, bulimia, binge eating and other eating disorders.
Weiner lived that reality for most of her young life – and that story is the heart of her book.
An aspiring actress as a youth, she starved herself to fit the image of the sleek stars, only to have one theater teacher tell her she didn’t get the lead role because she wasn’t thin enough. She remembers her time in high school as four years of hunger, doing anything to avoid looking – or being called – fat.
Group-therapy breakthrough
The turning point came when she was a college student in group therapy with other women.
“Their stories were the same as mine,” Weiner recalls. “It was the same story of not feeling happy in the skin you’re in, a story of being picked on and bullied, of constant dieting to fit an image that wasn’t real. But mostly it was a story of just wanting to feel OK with who they are.”
One of the women in the group never reached that point. She committed suicide. Weiner tried to cope with the devastating moment by pouring her heart into a performance piece about secrets, relationships, eating disorders and self-esteem.
Her theater friends helped to perform the show, which received a stirring reaction from the college audience. When Weiner graduated from Penn State University in 1995, she brought that same concept of “social issues theater” with her to Indianapolis.
Birth of ACT Out
After quitting her job-selling women’s clothes, she started ACT Out Ensemble. Sponsored by American Cabaret Theatre and the IUPUI School of Liberal Arts, ACT Out eventually toured the country, doing performances under Weiner’s direction.
“We covered topics including eating disorders, drug and alcohol abuse and date rape at first, and then later added shows on school violence, child abuse, diversity, homophobia and hate crimes,” Weiner says. “I’m so excited to come back to Indianapolis because so much of what I’ve done was born there.”
She decided to leave the city after doing a performance that followed the shootings at Columbine High School in 1999.
“By that point, I had seen hundreds of thousands of young people saying they were hungry for something more meaningful from the media,” she says. “They want to share their stories. They want to talk about their feelings, what their troubles are, what their fears are. I went in search of a bigger platform to talk about the important things of young people’s lives.”
Move pays off
She moved to Los Angeles in 2000, believing it provided the platform she desired. The move has led to the book, to the creation of an Internet site (jessicaweiner.com) and the development of the talk show. It has also led to the full-throttle laugh of someone who loves and enjoys what she’s doing.
“She has something within her that just affects people and changes their lives,” says her friend Sara Riemen, who is now the director of ACT Out. “She’s just a wonderful person.”
“She’s caught the world by storm, and we just love her,” says Jeff Owen, managing project director for American Cabaret Theatre. “She’s one of the most hard-working people I know in the arts. She’s been an inspiration to all of us.”
Inspiring others is one of Weiner’s goals.
“I changed my value system,” she says. “Instead of worrying about my dress size or what I’m eating, I try to do things that make me feel good about my character. I encourage people to fill up by doing service to others, by being a good friend, by finding a bigger perspective on things.
“One thing has always been clear to me: Like me, people are hungry. We’re all starving for loving attention, connection, understanding and healing.”
About Jessica Weiner
· Age: 29.
· Profession: Motivational speaker, performer and author of “A Very Hungry Girl: How I Filled Up On Life…And How You Can, Too!”
· Education: 1995 graduate of Pennsylvania State University.
· Appearances: 3 p.m. Saturday at Out Word Bound bookstore at 625 N. East St. in Indianapolis; noon to 2 p.m. Monday at Doubleday Book Shop at Circle Centre; 7 p.m. Monday at American Cabaret Theatre, 401 E. Michigan St.
· Quote: “I stopped looking at women as potential enemies. I now look at them as allies and fellow human beings.”
· Weiner is aware of U.S. women’s diet obsession |
