In short, Kate Pearson gives the type of depth in a character that Metz had been craving since she first entered acting, but was never able to get due to her weight.
This may come as a shock to some, but there aren’t too many roles for big women in Hollywood, fantastic or otherwise.
And had she lost the weight for some other role in the past, she wouldn’t necessarily have nailed this one.
The roles that do exist, as Chrissy Metz tells Marie Claire, are often degrading, small, and involve the character being the butt of some joke.