Lauren Cohan: I didnt like being skinny. People made fun of me
The Walking Dead’s Lauren Cohan (Maggie) covers Shape’s January/February issue. It’s nice to see an actress from Walking Dead on a magazine cover, and Cohan is getting more publicity than her costars because she has that creepy horror movie, The Boy, coming out early January. Cohan plays an English nanny to a doll, basically, and is asked to treat the doll as if it’s a real child. It looks like a terrible film but sometimes horror movies do well at the box office.
In the accompanying interview, Cohan comes across as a little manic and goofy, which is not the impression I’ve had of her from the couple times I’ve seen her on Talking Dead. She seems fun but not annoying at all in person. It’s Shape so Cohan is showing off her hard earned figure and talking about her exercise schedule. She has her hair long in the photos, but recently cut it into a cute pixie cut, so we can assume the photoshoot and interview are a few weeks old. Shape also has a quick video interview with Cohan with scenes from her shoot.
On her get-moving strategy:
“I am the queen of exercise variety. This week I was in L.A. and I took a Pure Barre class, went to Burn 60 [an internal workout class] twice, ran the track at UCLA, made it to the gym, and took a yoga class. I also really love to dance. I dance through workouts that aren’t even about dancing! At home, all my furniture is pushed to the edges of my living room so that I can dance around the room. Working out is harder when we’re on set. We film in Georgia, and I can’t go to classes. So I do exercise DVDs that have a lot of leg lifts, kicks, arm lifts – things that don’t need equipment. And I move all the time. I take the stairs, I do press-ups between scenes, and I do sit-ups before lunch.”
On fighting body shamers:
“I was very skinny as a kid, but when I was swimming and playing field hockey and just having fun, I never worried about how I looked. In my teens, though, I started to be more aware of my body, and I didn’t like being skinny. People made fun of me for it. So when I got to college, I ate a lot of junk and gained weight. I loved it because I didn’t stand out as a bony girl anymore! Eating became a way of not getting attention for looking too skinny, but it was also self-sabotage. In the last few years, I’ve gotten back on track with exercising for fun and eating right, and now I’m in a happy place with myself.”
On letting loose:
“I’m very silly. At four o’clock on the dot every single day, I have the most hyperactive hour of my life. I go into 7-year-old-child mode and everything is funny to me. I have seven different voices that I do, and I’ll fly around the set like a bee and talk in my little voices.”
On never dining solo:
“I once read a book that said eating with friends is good for your brain and your digestion. So if I’m by myself, I facetime a family member or a friend for company when I’m eating.”
On being impulsive:
“Sometimes I’ll go to the airport without a plan. I love to just take trips on the same day, spur of the moment.”
In the full interview, Cohan says that she needs to work out because it “gives me endorphins and makes me happy.” I can definitely relate to that because I start to feel bad if I can’t get a workout in for more than a day. I have been working out at home to the Just Dance XBox games so I have a big space in front of my TV to dance too. I have to follow the moves exactly with a DVD or game though, I’m not one to improvise like Cohan.
Spoilers for past episodes of The Walking Dead follow
After feeling too thin as a teen, it sounds like Cohan found a nice balance exercising and eating well and it really shows. She looks incredible. I wonder if Cohan is going to gain weight when her character, Maggie, starts showing in her pregnancy. Probably not, since food isn’t very plentiful during the zombie apocalypse. Honestly I do not remember how that turned out for Maggie in the comics. It’s possible I haven’t read that far, but it might not matter as producers could change that story arc anyway.
photos credit: ©James Macari/SHAPE Magazine.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pLHLnpmirJOdxm%2BvzqZmbW5jZ312e8uarKudnpSwsLTAp5ail5Sesa%2FAvqWgpJ2Pl7KqusaYqqShnqPGoLzEqKelnY%2BirqWxvp%2Bsp5efm6yusY4%3D