Chrissy Metz Learning To Love Myself

IN A NEW MEMOIR, THE THIS IS US STAR GETS CANDID ABOUT HER HARROWING PAST— AND REVEALS HOW SHE FINALLY FOUND HAPPINESS IN HER OWN SKIN.

- Aili Nahas

She’s a star on TV’s hottest show, but Chrissy Metz has never been one to take herself too seriously. Posing for a People photo shoot on March 15, she mugs for the camera, acting as if she’s being swept away by a fan’s breeze while declaring, with a flip of her hair, “I’m not a model—I’m just a girl who pretends to be an actress.”

It’s that humility, authenticity and humor that have endeared her to fans since This Is Us hit the air in 2016. But “pretends” is more than a joke: It hints at the surprise she still sometimes feels about her success. Growing up in Gainesville, Fla., Metz, now 37, always felt she was “too much of this and not enough of that,” as she puts it—an overweight, insecure girl who loved singing and making her family laugh but suffered abuse at the hands of her stepfather and never dreamed she’d find her way to fame. As an aspiring actor, she often felt dismissed because of her size; as a star, she still faces fat-shaming and is asked too often for her liking if she’s planning to have weight-loss surgery. (For the record: She’s content in her skin and says “I don’t focus on numbers—it’s all about how I feel.”)

Her new memoir This Is Me traces her incredible journey from poverty to stardom and from selfdoubt to finally “embracing the idea that people could be inspired by me.” Despite her life’s hardships, Metz says, “I’ve always had this happiness inside. I truly believe that everything that happened to me happened for me.”

In an excerpt from the memoir she opens up about what did happen, beginning with the year her father, a former Navy officer, left her mother to raise Chrissy, 8, her sister Monica, 15, and brother Philip, 13, on her own.