Gwyneth Paltrow's Body Double in Shallow Hal Has Only Been Watched Once, And The Role Left Permanent Damage

Vince Bucci / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images

By
January Nelson

Updated 4 minutes ago,
July 2, 2026

Ivy Snitzer was a 20-year-old drama student when she stepped in as Gwyneth Paltrow’s body double for the “fat suit” scenes in 2001’s Shallow Hal. The film was a hit, but Snitzer said he watched it exactly once – at the premiere – and never again.

Ivy Snitzer at the Los Angeles premiere of Shallow Hal in November 2001 — Ivy Snitzer on the red carpet at the Los Angeles premiere of Shallow Hal, November 1, 2001. Photo by Vince Bucci / Getty Images.

In a 2023 interview, she explained how the role made the “worst parts about being fat” feel “magnified,” and spoke candidly about the difficult health crisis she experienced afterward. Two decades later, the film is remembered less as a comedy than a case study of how early 2000s pop culture brutalized bodies.

When Shallow Hal arrived in 2001, the joke was a fat suit – and the person it came hard for wasn’t really in it.

Four people - a bald man in brown, a tall brown woman in black, a short bearded man in a suit, and a tall man in a blue satin jacket - are talking at the premiere of the film. — Jason Alexander, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jack Black, and Anthony Robbins attend the premiere of Shallow Hal in Los Angeles, November 1, 2001. Photo by Vince Bucci / Getty Images.

Four people stood at the premiere of the film: a bald man in a brown coat, a long-haired woman in a black dress, a short bearded man in a suit and tie, and a tall man in a blue blazer. — Jason Alexander, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jack Black, and Tony Robbins line up at the Los Angeles premiere of Shallow Hal on November 1, 2001. Photo by Lucy Nicholson / AFP via Getty Images.

Snitzer was hired as Paltrow’s stunt double for scenes where Paltrow’s character, Rosemary, appears as a plus-size woman. The Farrelly Brothers’ comedy became a box-office hit, but in a 2023 interview with The Guardian, Snitzer said he’s only seen it once, the first time, and won’t “end up watching it again.” “It was like the worst parts of obesity were increasing,” he recalled. “And no one told me I was funny.”

He has been candid about what happened next: a severe eating disorder, as The Guardian put it, left him “starving” two years into the film. Now the owner of an insurance agency in Philadelphia, Snitzer speaks of the experience with more grace than bitterness.

Gwyneth Paltrow in a black halter leans against Jack Black in a suit and tie at the film's premiere. — Gwyneth Paltrow leans on Jack Black as the pair arrive at the Los Angeles premiere of Shallow Hal on November 1, 2001. Photo by Lucy Nicholson/AFP via Getty Images.

Her story has become central to how audiences view a movie like Shallow Hal today — not as a happy tale about “inner beauty,” but as a reminder of who paid for the punchline.