Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

Throughout her memoir, Kaling addresses issues of body image and self-confidence. Her first chapter addresses her weight and her identity as a chubby person. Rather than ignoring the topic, she confronts it from the beginning, inviting the reader to laugh with her and to re-examine biases. When Kaling was a child, she recognized that she was not the same size as many of the girls in her class. She was not an athlete and actively sought to avoid exercising. Kaling examines how her identity as a “chubby” person impacted her career and how she views herself.

Kaling’s body is notable due to her career in Hollywood, a sphere where thinness is considered the norm. One of the main issues that Kaling confronts is that much of Hollywood does not know what to do with women who have larger bodies. She recalls a stage manager who gave everyone an attractive, formfitting shapewear for a play while handing Kaling a large black bag that had been cut from an old stage curtain. While Kaling has had many great stylists, she has also had many who did not know how to dress her.

One stylist did not even consider preparing for Kaling before a photoshoot, providing only sample sizes (typically size zero).