Margaret Cho sacrificed her “all white” clothes and her car to weight loss drugs decades ago.
The comedian admitted on Wednesday’s “How to Fail at Elizabeth Day” podcast that he “wasn’t able to control” his bowel movements while taking unspecified drugs to lose weight, which led to him pooping in his pants on stage.
“I started taking medication to remove fat from the food I ate,” the 57-year-old actress recalled, comparing what came out of her body to “pepperoni fat on a pizza.”
She went on to tell listeners about the time she “made it” on stage in a white “dress and pants combo” during a comedy set.
“It was just oil, so it was starting to come out. It was fat, so it was just grease. Orange grease started gushing out of my hole,” Cho recalled.
“I ended the show while ST was coming out,” she continued. “I got a standing ovation and they wanted an encore and all I could do was disappear behind the curtain.”
The Emmy nominee was relieved to find “nobody” backstage and removed her pants in private.
She “crouched on the ground” behind the curtain “to relieve the cramps” and left behind “orange oil” that “may have smelled”.
Ms. Cho put her pants back on – there would be “too much evidence” if left behind, she noted – and jumped into her car as the audience “applauded and demanded an encore.”
Cho said, “As I drove away, there was a big orange oil stain on the front seat of the car that I couldn’t remove. I had no choice but to buy a new car.”
While she was “crying” and feeling “really upset and disgusted” by the “horrible and terrible” experience, she also found herself “laughing” at the ordeal.
Cho did not specify exactly when the incident occurred, but said it dates back to around 2000.
“I stopped taking the medication at that point, but then I tried other methods to lose weight,” she admitted.
In 2020, Cho opened up to Page Six about Hollywood’s “really harmful” weight standards that have left “scars” on many women.
Cho said, “Even though I didn’t want to feel it, I was stuck in a self-hatred that was imposed on me by society. If I had been able to overcome that, I would have been able to truly enjoy life.”
She told the Guardian the following year how she lost 30 pounds in two weeks in 1994 through “diet, exercise and pure fear.”
It was later kept a secret that Cho suffered from kidney failure and was hospitalized while filming “All American Girl.”
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please call the National Eating Disorders Alliance at 866-662-1235.
