Gemma Arterton reveals Hollywood bosses forced her to lose weight by flying a personal trainer to film set

The British star had to have her body regularly measured during filming 
Shape up: Gemma Arterton was given an on-set personal trainer
Dave J Hogan/Getty Images
Jennifer Ruby22 August 2017
The Weekender

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Gemma Arterton has revealed that she was once forced to lose weight for a film role after Hollywood producers flew a personal trainer to set.

The British actress, 31, said she was told to go to the gym every day while filming in Morocco so that she’d become slimmer, which was a “traumatic” experience.

“There was one film that I was on and we were out in Morocco and a couple of weeks went past and they literally were like ‘We need a personal trainer – stat,” she told the Guilty Feminist podcast.

“And they flew someone out overnight that gave up their whole life to be with me and be my personal trainer.

'Traumatic': Gemma Arterton was forced to lose weight for a film role 
Tiziana Fabi/AFP/Getty

“You know when it’s like – ‘Is it that f****** bad that I need an emergency... [it was as if they were] like on speed dial – ‘Get that trainer out here now’.

“It was so traumatic at the time,” she added.

The actress, who has previously spoken about being told to lose weight for 2010’s Prince of Persia, said her body was “measured” on a regular basis.

“They’d measure me and they’d call up the personal trainer at like nine and night going: ‘Is she in the gym? And if she isn’t, why isn’t she in the gym?”

“And there was one day when I went to get some snacks, they have like snacks on set, and I went to get some apricots, some dried apricots.”

“And the man went, this big, fat, obese producer went: ‘I hope you’re not going to eat that.’”

While Arterton refused to say which film she’d been working on at the time, she was open about her physical transformation for the film back in 2010.

“When I got that part they really tried to transform me. They sent me to a personal trainer, wanted to get my teeth done, hair extensions, make me look like somebody else,” she said at the time.

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