The Crown's Meg Bellamy Told By Critics She Was 'Too Fat' to Play Kate Middleton

06/25/2024 02:09 PM

21-year-old Bellamy took on the role of a college-age Kate Middleton for the Netflix show's final season last year.

Meg Bellamy is getting real about the hate she received after being cast as Kate Middleton in season six of The Crown.

In a new interview with the Mail Online, the 21-year-old British actress said she received an onslaught of "torment" from social media trolls who said she was "too fat" to play the then Princess-to-be.

Bellamy was tapped for the role for the show's final ever season last year, alongside Ed McVey, who starred as a young Prince William, as the pair began dating during their time at St Andrews University in the early 2000s.

Bellamy said she watched hours of Kate Middleton footage to prepare for the part, and sought advice from, Elizabeth Debicki, who played Princess Diana.

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"I spent so much time with her," Bellamy said. "You get this weird para-social connection. She's so gracious and wonderful and self-assured. I will always be fond of Kate."

At the Los Angeles premiere for the show's sixth season, the criticism continued, when Bellamy says she got slammed for wearing a low-cut dress.

"I'd had this long day of press, it had gone well, then I went on my phone and there was all this negative stuff about my body online," Bellamy recounted. The comments were mostly: "'You're too fat to play Kate.'"

She continued, "That was a glimpse into being a woman in this industry. I thought, 'Okay, that's a sign to distance yourself, because it doesn't mean anything.'"

These days, Bellamy stays away from the comment section, telling the outlet, "You can't listen to that sort of stuff."

Especially, as Bellamy says, many of the comments are left by the likes of "men called Gary who are holding a fish in their profile picture."

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"I've had so many amazing things happen to me," she added, as a result of landing the breakout role. "They're the losers for saying that. I'm living my best life over here."

While Bellamy said she's since put the princess character "behind her," the show proved to be a great foray into Hollywood, with the Child of Science actress telling the Mail Online things were much more "relaxed" than the "big machine" she expected from the lauded Netflix series.

"Especially because it was the final season – [I thought] everyone would be, like: 'Don't mess it up! You've come into our very successful show. Do your part and do it well!'" she explained.

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And it's helped propel her career too, with Bellamy sharing the same agent as Robert Pattinson and Dev Patel.

"The auditions I get now would have been my wildest dreams," Bellamy gushed.