Elizabeth Takes Off: On Weight Gain, Weight Loss, Self-Image and Self-Esteem
“In this frank, compelling account, Elizabeth tells what it was like to go from screen goddess to downright fat, before her own horrified eyes. She talks about this life’s wear and tear that drove her to eating extremes and about the unforgiving eye cast upon her by friends and fans alike. By turns poignant and funny—‘Oh no, Great White Whale,’ she says to herself at one point, mid-diet, on her way to the refrigerator—Elizabeth is as honest as those who know and admire her would expect her to be. In this very personal account, she takes a hard, long look at the role self-esteem has played in her own life. She examines our weight-obsessed era and the ramifications it has on someone who goes from one glorious extreme to its opposite. And she reveals the courage and perseverance it took to turn herself around—to climb to even greater glory than before.” [From the book jacket]
After winning a hard-fought battle to regain her self-image and self-esteem, Elizabeth Taylor went on a rigorous diet and exercise regimen. She chronicles that process in the book Elizabeth Takes Off: On Weight Gain, Weight Loss, Self-Image, and Self-Esteem. The book, which was published in January 1988 by G. P. Putnam’s Sons (and by Macmillan in the UK), was a collaboration with writer Jane Scovell, who would go on to work with Ginger Rogers on My Story and with Elizabeth’s friend Maureen Stapleton on her autobiography, A Hell of a Life.
From the book jacket: “Even movie stars are human enough to gain weight, then lose it, only to put on more than ever before. But for them the consequences are all the more devastating. When it happened to Elizabeth Taylor, it was in the glare of media bulbs and the unblinking public eye. When she finally looked hard at herself in the mirror, she said, ‘I could not believe what I had become.’
“In this frank, compelling account, Elizabeth tells what it was like to go from screen goddess to downright fat, before her own horrified eyes. She talks about this life’s wear and tear that drove her to eating extremes and about the unforgiving eye cast upon her by friends and fans alike. By turns poignant and funny—‘Oh no, Great White Whale,’ she says to herself at one point, mid-diet, on her way to the refrigerator—Elizabeth is as honest as those who know and admire her would expect her to be. In this very personal account, she takes a hard, long look at the role self-esteem has played in her own life. She examines our weight-obsessed era and the ramifications it has on someone who goes from one glorious extreme to its opposite. And she reveals the courage and perseverance it took to turn herself around—to climb to even greater glory than before.
“Elizabeth Taylor’s triumph is, as she puts it, ‘a victory for anyone who has ever lost their self-image and self esteem,’ and she generously shares what she’s learned—including her personal diet and exercise system and invaluable weight-loss tips—to encourage others to achieve the joy and redoubtable energy that come with winning back your self-esteem.”