Kathy Bates Shocks Fans While Promoting ‘Matlock’ After Huge Drop In Weight Left Her With Unrecognizable ‘Thin’ Face

Aug 13, 2024 by apost team

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Kathy Bates is a critically acclaimed actress, and is also known for her great work as a director. The star has taken the world by storm with her incredibly long career spanning over 50 years. Her talents have been seen in a variety of projects and multiple genres in the acting world, including comedies, romance movies, thrillers and dramas.

Bates was born June 28, 1948, in Memphis, Tennessee. Proving her determination from the start, Bates graduated early from White Station High School in 1965. From the Broadway stage to the silver screen, Bates has made her presence known in the entertainment industry. She has not only showcased her incredible talents as an actress and director but has also used her platform for the betterment of others. 

By engaging with multiple organizations and talking about her personal struggles, Bates has helped raise awareness for a number of causes, most of which deal with health issues. Bates has always been honest about what it’s like being a larger woman in Hollywood and has voiced her opinions on the matter multiple times. Despite making a few headlines along the way, she hasn’t let anyone’s view of her appearance prevent her from continuing on with her long-lasting career, and she is still working in the entertainment industry to this day. 

Along with battling cancer and suffering other major health issues, Bates has accomplished a lot in her personal health journey. In 2019, the star reached a huge weight-loss milestone and lost 60 pounds from a simple change in health habits.

By prioritizing her health, Bates has managed to achieve some great successes. However, in August 2024, her new look drew shock from fans who couldn’t believe the striking transformation.

Bates was a member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority and studied theater at Southern Methodist University before graduating in 1969. She decided to make the jump and moved to New York City in 1970 to officially pursue acting as a career. Shortly afterward, she began acting in minor stage roles before landing her first film feature in 1971 in “Taking Off.” 

The actress seemed to have hit her stride as she continued to work throughout the 1970s and 1980s, landing both roles in movies and on the Broadway stage, such as the 1976 production of “Vanities.” Bates continued working before finally hitting her breakthrough with her performance in the psychological thriller “Misery” in 1990. The movie, based on the book “Misery” by Stephen King, was a commercial and critical success that received widespread attention. 

Bates quickly began receiving great praise from critics and plenty of award nominations and wins as she continued making waves in Hollywood. “Misery” earned the star her first major awards, and she took home an Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture in the Drama category, both in 1991. Bates also received the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress and Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress in 1990 for the same movie.

Bates’ career had only just begun, and her success in movies based on books continued. It seemed fitting as her grandfather, Finis L. Bates, was an author, so the gravitation toward literature and the arts was in her blood. 

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She starred in “Fried Green Tomatoes” in 1991, a movie based on the novel “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe” by actress Fannie Flagg. Bates later played the title character in “Dolores Claiborne,” another Stephen King adaptation, in 1995. This was also the year that Bates decided to move from in front of the camera to behind the screen, and she picked up work as a director on many television shows, including “Great Performances,” “Homicide: Life on the Street” and “NYPD Blue.”

Along with directing television series, Bates began picking up more roles by acting in them too, as well as continuing her already-established career as a film actress. She won her first Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie in 1997 for her work in “The Late Shift.” Bates had a remarkable range in her repertoire, and she consistently demonstrated her versatile acting skills. 

She gained even more recognition from her role as Molly Brown in the romance film “Titanic” in 1997, which was directed by James Cameron and also starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. The movie was one of the most successful of its time and became the highest-grossing film of all time worldwide in 1998, and is still considered a classic. The film’s success was only beaten by another Cameron film, “Avatar,” which surpassed the previous film’s box-office success in 2010. Today, “Titanic” is No. 4 on the list of highest-grossing movies, surpassed only by "Avatar," “Avengers: Endgame” and “Avatar: The Way of Water."

With more and more people recognizing Bates for her incredible acting abilities, it was only a matter of time before her body became a hot topic in news outlets. In the 2002 comedy-drama movie “About Schmidt,” Bates appeared nude in one notable scene, and it received significant attention from film critics and audiences. During an interview with Hello! Magazine, Bates talked about what it was like being a woman of her size in the spotlight. “People either laugh or cheer,” Bates said. “I think there are a lot of women in the audience who are thrilled to see a real woman up on the screen in all her glory.”

This wasn’t the first time Bates’ appearance became a topic of conversation. Following her feature film debut back in 1971, the actress faced rude comments and criticism from casting agents who voiced that they didn’t think she was attractive enough to play certain roles. “I was never an ingenue,” Bates said. “I’ve always just been a character actor. When I was younger, it was a real problem because I was never pretty enough.” 

These comments impacted not only Bates’ opportunities for lead roles but her own self-worth. “It was hard, not just for the lack of work, but because you have to face up to how people are looking at you,” she explained. Despite what anyone had to say about her, Bates’ success was undeniable, and she persevered. She played more supportive roles in a plethora of movies, including “Failure to Launch” in 2006, “P.S. I Love You,” in 2007 and “The Blind Side” in 2009.

Despite her openness about health struggles, Bates has kept much of her personal life private. She was married to actor Tony Campisi from 1991, and the two stayed together for six years before divorcing in 1997.

Bates, along with 48 other celebrities, appeared in a video produced by Ryan Murphy for the Human Rights Campaign. The video was made to honor the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting on June 12, 2016. The Human Rights Campaign has declared itself as the largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization in the United States and released the tribute video to honor those in the community.

Bates has dealt with some pretty serious health issues over the years. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2003 and later diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012. It wasn’t until many years later that she was finally ready to publicly share her struggles following surgeries and treatments. 

“I continued to work right after the operation, doing ‘Little Black Book’ with Brittany Murphy,” Bates told People in August 2018. “My agent at the time was very old-school and didn’t want me to be the poster child for ovarian cancer. I didn’t want anyone to know, but it really took a lot out of me.”

People reported that the actress had a double mastectomy because of her family’s history with cancer following her breast cancer diagnosis. Bates beat cancer twice and is currently cancer-free, but her health struggles persisted.

The actress was diagnosed with lymphedema, a disease commonly caused by the removal of lymph nodes during cancer treatment, shortly after winning her second battle with cancer. “It’s a souvenir you definitely don’t want,” Bates said. “I really felt that life was over for me. I probably wouldn’t work again, and I was angry for a long time.”

Bates has since been working as an advocate for the Lymphatic Education and Research Network to raise awareness about the disease. In March 2021, the organization posted a photo of Bates to Instagram with a quote from the actress: “We are united in dreaming of a cure.” Although there is no cure yet, Bates has found a way to deal with the pain through exercise, a healthy diet and by wearing compression sleeves on her arms, according to People. She has also encouraged others to stop “worrying about what you look like” and “instead, keep everything working and in good order.”

Bates has remained committed to her healthy diet and routine exercise to not only manage her lymphedema diagnosis but her health in general. The actress lost an astonishing 60 pounds and has been given a rejuvenated view of life. “This is the best health I’ve been in in years and I’m so grateful,” Bates said during an interview with Extra TV in March 2019. “It’s a miracle.” She went on to explain how diabetes runs in her family so she wanted to lose weight and get healthy as a way to prevent herself from succumbing to the disease.

“After you’ve maybe been eating for 15 or 20 minutes, you experience an involuntary sigh,” she explained. “It’s communication between your stomach and your brain telling you that you’ve had enough.” Bates further explained how waiting just a few minutes after finishing a meal helped her realize that she was satisfied and didn’t need to eat more.

Bates also talked more about battling cancer and her diagnosis of lymphedema and how her mindful eating habits have helped ease the pain the disease causes. She has continued to use her platform to raise awareness about the topic. “I want people to know what it is so they can get treatment early before it progresses to its most difficult stages,” Bates said.

The star talked more about her new eating habits with Hello! Magazine in March 2019. “The trick is to pay attention to that and push your plate away,” she said, referring to the notion of paying attention to your fullness after eating. “I don’t like the word willpower, but I like the word determination.”

“Mindfulness” was the key to losing weight for Bates, as she explained in an interview with Us Weekly in January 2019. This simple trick, along with incorporating some exercise, helped the star lose 60 pounds, and she has continued to stay in fantastic shape ever since.

Bates has had quite an impactful life as her career in the entertainment industry spans over five decades. She has made long-lasting impressions on others through her work as an actress and director and has also raised awareness for great causes through her work with multiple organizations. Bates has beaten cancer twice, learned to manage her lymphedema, and has even lost 60 pounds on her journey to health and wellness.

Bates returned to the spotlight in 2024 with the announcement of a reboot of the classic legal series “Matlock.” Bates takes on the main role in the updated “Matlock,” made famous by Andy Griffith in the late 80s to early 90s. Fans were ecstatic to hear of Bates’ new series, in which she stars alongside Beau Bridges and Jason Ritter.

“Holy hell, Matlock is returning? Kathy Bates is a great actress too. Playing matlock's daughter,” one user commented, while another said, “Kathy Bates is Matlock. I’m very intrigued.”   

However, as Bates began promoting the series ahead of its September 2024 premiere, fans were left perplexed by her slimmer face and frame. 

“OMG, what happened to her? I love her but is this even her? She was fine, before?????” one user said, while another stated simply, “I almost didn’t recognize her… her face looks so thin.

One commenter simply stated, “Ozempic face,” which received the response “It's getting easy to spot hey.”

“Love Kathy to death but honey you can’t lose that much weight after a certain age. Your skin just hangs there,” another user chimed in on TikTok.

However, in a video promo featuring Bates on the show’s official Instagram page, many fans left encouraging comments on their favorite actress.

“Gosh. I didn’t recognise Kathy. She looks great,” one fan wrote, while another remarked, “Kathy Bates looks great!”

“Kathy Bates looks amazing in her golden years,” one comment read, while another stated, “My gosh, talk about not getting older, but getting better! I didn't even recognize Kathy in the first Matlock preview! ... Matlock was one of my favorite shows ever. I still watch the re-runs. I am SO looking forward to the new Matlock.”

What are your thoughts on Kathy Bates’ transformation? Are you a fan of hers? If you can’t wait for the new “Matlock,” then be sure to pass this on to your family and friends, too!