HOME / ENTERTAINMENT / TV

'Will and Grace' actress Debra Messing reveals she had to wear fake boobs during her first sitcom

Even though Debra has turned out to become a strong woman, at that time, she did not feel that she had the right to decline a producer who had cast her on the show.

Debra Messing has done a number of hit TV shows in her career and even though she has reached a point where she can speak her mind, it wasn't always the case. The actress had to work a lot to get where she is now. Debra recalled when she first started off in the industry not everyone thought she was pretty. She remembered a Hollywood executive being critical of her looks when she first started off in the industry. 

“I had to wear fake boobs when I first started in Hollywood on my first sitcom,” she said talking to Sharon Stone as part of Variety’s Actors on Actors series. Debra recalled telling the producer that she looked stupid after wearing them. "I was like, ‘I’m not going to wear these,’ to which they responded, ‘The president of the network called and said he wants you to wear those,’” she said. 

Even though Debra has turned out to become a strong woman, at that time, she did not feel that she had the right to decline a producer who had cast her on the show. Unable to say anything, she decided to obey what she had been asked to do. “I was in shock. I was new to the industry and I just thought, ‘I can’t say no,’ you know,” the “Will & Grace” star added. However, things have changed over the years Debra has realized that no one can ask her to do anything that she doesn't want to. 

“Now, no one comes at me with those things. I’m like ‘I’m flat-chested, I love it," she continued. Debra also brought attention to how there have been several other instances when she has been criticized for her choices. She recalled how there were times when she faced backlash for wearing pants instead of a dress in a film and another time when she was asked to sit like a proper woman. 

Recently, the actress also opened up about being tricked into signing a nudity waiver and was sexually harassed on the set. Speaking to Hollywood Reporter the actress recalled the time when she felt she was abused. It wasn’t until we started having these conversations that I realized I had been sexually harassed,” she said. “I had said, ‘Oh, that’s the business. And then all of a sudden, I was like, ‘Wait a minute, no, that’s not the business. I was sexually harassed.’ ”

The film was the first role that Debra had taken after finishing film school. “I was tricked into signing a nudity waiver by the producers [who] basically said, ‘Oh, the director just has a big ego, it’s PG-13, we cannot show anything, so if you sign it, nothing’s gonna happen," she recalled while adding that she was slammed when she questioned the director about it.