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Hairspray Live! actress Maddie Baillio lost 150 pounds over the course of two years by going for walks and avoiding red meat.
The 26-year-old star shared her story with People magazine on Thursday, adding that she’s feeling better than ever now that she’s “in control” of her size.
“Life is good,” she said. “I have a beautiful, healthy relationship with myself and my body and my family and my partner, [boyfriend Solomon Reynolds]. … I’m in a much more centered, grounded place.”
A new person: Hairspray Live! actress Maddie Baillio has lost 150 pounds over the course of two years by going for walks and cutting meat. The 26-year-old star shared her story with People magazine on Thursday, adding that she is feeling better than ever
The hit show: (lr) Shahadi Wright Joseph as Little Inez, Garrett Clayton as Link Larkin, Ariana Grande as Penny Pingleton, Maddie Baillio as Tracy Turnblad, Ephraim Sykes as Seaweed J. Stubbs
She had a rounder shape when she played Tracy Turnblad opposite Ariana Grande in Hairspray Live! And the star also popped up in Dumplin’ with Jennifer Aniston and was in the Cinderella movie with Camila Cabello.
During COVID, she changed the way she ate and lost about 150 pounds in two years.
She added that 150 pounds was “more than half” her previous weight.
The change started in early 2020 when she started filming Cinderella in London.
“There was a scene that didn’t make it in the movie where me and the other stepsister… [Charlotte Spencer] led a group of about 300 girls – fantastic dancers, slim, they were talking about it – down this 50-meter path to the castle singing Single Ladies and dancing,” she said.
She changed her way of life: “Life is good,” she said. “I have a beautiful, healthy relationship with myself and my body and my family.” Seen on the left in 2016 and on the right this year
She has a love in her life: here she is seen with her partner Solomon Reynolds. “I’m in a much more centered, grounded place,” the artist noted
‘I couldn’t keep up with the choreography. I kept losing my breath. We’d have to re-shoot the scene for me over and over again.’
When the shoot was over, she went back to Texas, her home state, and COVID started to result in lockdown.
She had free time, so she started walking. She started with 30 minutes a day.
“The sun was so good for my mental and physical health. I could walk for 30 minutes to an hour, and the next week it was a good two hours. So that’s how it started for me,” the actress said.
“I stepped on the scale and it was inspiring to see that I was in control of something — that I was in control of my body,” said Baillio.
She now loves sports: she had free time in 2020, so she started walking. She started with 30 minutes a day. “The sun was so good for my mental and physical health. I could walk for 30 minutes to an hour, and the next week it was a good two hours. So that’s how it started for me,” the actress said
Next came hot yoga.
Her diet also changed: Gone were the red meats, and then came a vegan meal plan.
One of the things she liked about being thinner was that she had more stamina.
“I’d go to West Hollywood, and I could dance the night away. Life got so much more fun when I had that physical stamina,” she added.
And she hopes her slimmer frame will give her more roles.
“I want to play my dream roles on Broadway that have nothing to do with my weight. And I can definitely see it going that way,” she shared.
The change: “I stepped on the scale, and it was inspiring to see that I was in control of something — that I was in control of my body,” said Baillio. Seen left in June 2017 and right on Instagram
But she wants her fans to feel comfortable with every size. She also won’t comment on other people’s weight.
“I refrain from commenting on people’s physical appearance because I know that when I was struggling – when I was so hyper fixated on the number on the scale, and people told me I was doing well and [to] keep going – that was not good for me. Because you never know who struggles with what, how they got to that point,” she said.
She then has a solo cabaret show at Birdland on November 21.
As for her beau Reynolds, an actor, she knew him in high school and they reunited in Palm Springs. “In high school, I was also a plus-sized girl, and he was like one of the few guys who was that nice to me,” she said. ‘I’m so happy; we are so happy. Yes, it really is a time full of love in my life.’