Entertainment
80s TV sitcom legend reveals they ‘tried crystal meth to lose weight’-Emily Bashforth-Entertainment – Metro
‘Hollywood will mess your head up,’ she declared.
Delta Burke, now 67, wasn’t able to get her weight loss prescription drugs in the US (Picture: Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
Delta Burke, famous for starring in the sitcom Designing Women, has made some shocking revelations about previous weight loss endeavours.
The TV star, who played Suzanne Sugarbaker for five seasons, has spoken publicly about the scrutiny she’s faced due to her weight.
She once became so focused on losing weight that she turned to crystal meth to shed some pounds.
Speaking on the Glamorous Trash podcast, the 67-year-old told host Chelsea Devantez that she was prescribed weight loss pills while at acting school in London.
However, upon returning to the US, she learned that said prescription was illegal across the pond.
Then, when filming for Filthy Rich in the 1980s, Delta resorted to other means.
She’s opened up about the pressure to lose weight and the lengths she went to (Picture: Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic)
What are ‘black beauties?’
‘Black Beauties’ is a street name for amphetamines, which are sometimes prescribed for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
The drug became popular for recreational use in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s.
They were outlawed in 1965, but not officially pulled from the market until 1998.
On set, she found someone who could get her similar pills, called ‘Black Beauties’, which she described as ‘like medicine to me’.
She would take them in the morning to prevent herself from eating during the day.
Delta’s quest for weight loss quickly snowballed, though.
After her body became tolerant to those pills, someone suggested that she try methamphetamine.
‘Nobody knew about crystal meth at the time,’ she shared on the podcast.
‘[They told me], “You chop it up. You snort.” I said, “I don’t want to snort it.”
‘So I put it in cranberry juice and [drank] it… and wouldn’t eat for five days.’
Delta played Suzanne Sugarbaker in the CBS television series Designing Women (Picture: CBS via Getty Images)
The show aired in the late 1980s (Picture: CBS via Getty Images)
Despite the extreme lengths she was going to in a bid to be thinner, Delta was still on the receiving end of harsh comments about her looks.
‘They were still saying, “Your butt’s too big. Your legs are too big.” And I now look back at those pictures and go, “I was a freaking goddess”.’
Filthy Rich ran from 1982 to 1983, after which Delta achieved success with Designing Women before it ended in 1991.
Despite the fame and adoration she had acquired by this point, Delta continued to struggle as ‘incredibly ugly’ narratives about her size spread.
‘I thought I was stronger. I tried very hard to defend myself against lies and all the ugliness that was there and I wasn’t gonna win.
‘I’m just an actress, you know. I don’t have any power.’
She changed her whole body language at one point to ‘disappear’ (Picture: CBS via Getty Images)
She explained how things got so bad that her ‘whole body language changed’, as she would ‘hunch over’ in an attempt to ‘disappear’.
‘Hollywood will mess your head up,’ she declared sadly.
‘And I had always thought, “I want to be a famous actress.” I thought that meant that you would be a famous and well-respected actress, but that’s not what it meant.
‘The moment I became famous, it was like, “Oh no, no, no. This is not what I had in mind at all. I don’t think I want to be this anymore.” But then it’s too late.’
Emmy Award nominee is also known for her work on Delta (1992-1993), Women of the House (1995), and DAG (2000-2001).
She has admitted that Hollywood took a toll on her (Picture: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic)
She’s also appeared in the Broadway productions of Thoroughly Modern Millie (2003) and Steel Magnolias (2005).
As for her personal life, Delta has been married to actor Gerald McRaney since 1989. They have no children together, although her husband has adult children of his own from previous marriages.
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