The Facts of Life’s Nancy McKeon Says the Show’s Young Stars All Faced Scrutiny About Their Weight

Nancy McKeon is opening up about the attention paid to The Facts of Life’s cast’s weight during the beloved sitcom’s nine-season run.

According to Page Six, McKeon, 58, says she and her costars were subjected to behind-the-scenes discussions about their weight and diet.

“Each one of us had to deal with things in our own way, and things that were brought to us,” she told the outlet.

The Facts of Life, which aired on NBC from 1979 to 1988, centered on the misadventures of a group of students at a fictional all-girls boarding school. McKeon joined the cast of the series, which already included Charlotte Rae, Lisa Whelchel, Mindy Cohn and Kim Fields, as tomboy Jo Polniaczek for its second season in 1980. McKeon, Whelchel, Cohn and Fields were all in their early teens during the show’s first few seasons, a fact that McKeon noted in her interview with Page Six.

“When you think about the fact that you are recording somebody’s puberty, I mean from 14 to, you know, early 20s, that period, there’s so much development, there’s so many things that you’re going through,” she said. “I mean it’s quite curious looking back. How would you not go through all the changes that everybody in life has gone through.”

McKeon said she understood why the young cast’s weight was “made a thing.”

“It’s called showbusiness. It’s a business, and they wanted what they wanted,” she said. “But we’re also human beings, and the fact is, you know, everybody comes in all shapes and sizes and everybody needs to be represented. There is no one ideal, I don’t think.”

McKeon added that she now believes all body types should be embraced on TV. “That’s what makes art. That’s what’s fascinating about people watching and finding a connection to a character, for whatever your reasons,” she explained. “We need to have as many unique individual people in every size, shape and form and color. That’s what makes art special.”

She added that she and her costars “had to navigate” those invasive discussions in the ’80s, but have since moved on.

“Hopefully that’s not going to be so much the focus for young actors to come,” she said.

McKeon’s recollections echo statements made by Whelchel, 61. In 2023, the actress, singer and author who played preppy Blair Warner in The Facts of Life told Yahoo Entertainment that a scale was installed on the show’s set to weigh the young actresses and that she was sent to a “fat farm” three times during the show’s hiatuses.

“Certainly as a teenager [that] was a lot,” Whelchel admitted. “Though even back then I understood it’s a business. They hired me to play a certain character that looked a certain way. And it was also really, really hard because I was going through puberty and my parents were going through a divorce and I was living in California and they were in Texas, so there was emotional eating involved. All the things that are not atypical of teenage girls.”

More recently, Cohn, 58, has also spoken about how her body image has changed in recent years.

“I wasn’t one of those girls that peaked in high school,” Cohn, whose Facts of Life character Natalie Green was always proud of her fuller figure, told Vanity Fair last year. “To be quite frank with you, I think I’m peaking now. I think I’m going to look the most adorable in my 60s. And I think girls like me, who have that life where you really aren’t your most attractive in your 20s and 30s [and] actually start to really kind of look good in your 50s and 60s, have it so much easier. I didn’t necessarily feel [as] protective over my physical self as people who are told they’re attractive.”