Loretta Devine Says Gregory Hines Encouraged Her To Lose Weight

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Loretta Devine is the latest star to appear on TV One’s Uncensored where she opened up about the ups and down of her four-decade career.

Even though she has over 150 roles under her belt, one of the most beloved characters she played was Gloria Matthews in Waiting To Exhale. On Uncensored, she reflected about working with Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett and her love interest in the film Gregory Hines. She said they were all wonderful to work with, even Hines who encouraged her to lose weight so she could elevate her career.

“I remember him telling me, ‘Now as soon as this movie is over you have to lose all the weight so you can move into the next category’. I don’t know what category that was because I never did lose the weight like he had talked about,” she laughed.

Despite the insensitive comment, Devine said she and Hines always maintained a sibling-like friendship. Her weight also didn’t hinder career and she continued to thrive.

Devine also discussed dealing with colorism in Hollywood, something she credited Spike Lee for raising awareness about. She said even though it exists throughout the industry, she said she was more focused on her craft than worrying about encountering this issue in the TV and film industry.

“I never even thought about my looks so much,” she said. “It was always about my talent and I think I sort of got that mentality about things when I was much younger. So I didn’t think about what color I was.”

TV One’s Uncensored airs on August 29 at 10:00 p.m eastern time.