Weighty issues with oversize entertainer Hughes<\/p>\n
By Bruce Emond<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Emcee-cum-talk show host Dewi Hughes bristles
\nwhenever she hears the \"F\" word. Most recently it was a
\njournalist, tired at the wait for a show to begin, who committed
\nthe offense.<\/p>\n
\"He shouted at me, 'hey, fatso, when is everything going to
\nget started?'\" Hughes said recently over a brunch of calamari and
\ncappuccino. \"I was so angry that I went right over to him and
\nsaid in English, 'my name is Hughes -- say it Uges -- and that is
\nwhat you call me. And if you ever call me that other name again,
\nyou will see what I'll do'.\"<\/p>\n
At 165 cm and 104 kg, Hughes is doing her part to break down
\nthe barriers for overweight women in the Indonesian entertainment
\nworld. She emcees gatherings, hosts the new RCTI Saturday night
\ntalk show Angin Malam (Night Wind) and acts occasionally, most
\nrecently in the multimedia show JokoTingkir (she is also the
\nwoman dining out and being pampered in a commercial for a
\nPepsodent competition).<\/p>\n
She said it was difficult because fat characters were
\ntraditionally the butt of jokes in local comedies. \"That is one
\nthing I will not do, the jokes. I watch fat women being insulted
\nand pushed around, called names, in shows, and I think why do
\nthey let that happen to themselves?\"<\/p>\n
Hughes has been through thick and thin times, both in terms of
\nher weight and her career.<\/p>\n
One of six daughters born to a Balinese father and a Dutch-
\nBalinese mother, the 29 year old moved with her family to several
\ncities in Java when she was young (she converted to Islam when
\nthe family was living in Banten, West Java) before settling in
\nJakarta.<\/p>\n
Her unusual name was the choice of her father, who was
\nfascinated by the life of American tycoon and airline pioneer
\nHoward Hughes.<\/p>\n
\"When I was in elementary school, the headmaster would call me
\nHughes, but say it Uges, and it stuck. I like having the name
\nbecause nobody else has it here. And it was nothing unusual in my
\nfamily -- one of my sisters is called Kissinger.\"<\/p>\n
She studied at a vocational high school for teachers in
\nJakarta, and then continued to Atma Jaya University, also in
\nJakarta, with a major in English. Her father died in 1986, and
\nHughes said she took additional work, such as a promotional girl
\nfor a publishing company, to help her family.<\/p>\n
Child psychologist Kak Seto spotted her one day when she was
\nexplaining a children's story to some kids.<\/p>\n
\"He told me that I was good at telling stories and that I
\ncould work with him. He would tell the story in Indonesian to the
\nchildren, and I would tell it in English. I remember the first
\none we did was Little Red Riding Hood.\"<\/p>\n
She drew on her past experience by playing a teacher in
\nPengalaman Sherina (Sherina's Adventure), the huge box-office hit
\nwhich has breathed new life into the Indonesian film industry.<\/p>\n
Hughes said her weight gain began about 10 years ago when she
\nwas ordered to rest and recuperate after a liver ailment.<\/p>\n
\"I was not eating right, sleeping right. I was told to stop
\nswimming, stop heavy physical activity and eat what I wanted. I
\nwould have a big glass full of sugar every day.\"<\/p>\n
She said she hit the ground running when it came to chowing
\ndown, but found she could not put on the brakes even when she was
\nfully recovered.<\/p>\n
\"I just kept eating and eating. I became lazy about everything
\nexcept eating. I failed a class because I was too lazy to climb
\nthe stairs to the classroom. Imagine that.\"<\/p>\n
In the meantime, she set up her own company to provide
\nentertainment for children's parties. \"I had Rp 150,000 to start
\nwith, to buy the clown's costumes and equipment, but we did very
\nwell. We charged Rp 350,000 which included the clowns, some party
\ngifts.\"<\/p>\n
The weight piled on as she adopted a pattern of compulsive
\neating. She admitted that part of the problem was she ate from
\nloneliness.<\/p>\n
\"After the parties, the parents would usually give me half of
\nthe cake to take home. I would go home and eat it by myself. Or I
\nwould go out to restaurants and eat. I love steak, noodles and
\nCoca-Cola, especially coke. I was drinking a liter a day. And I
\nhad to eat rice, or else I would say I hadn't eaten.\"<\/p>\n
She would go out in search of food.<\/p>\n
\"I loved to go out driving. I would drive up to Puncak where
\nthere is this great Balinese restaurant. It's hard to find it
\nbecause it's on a small road in the mountains. I would sit there,
\nreading magazines and eating. I would have something, and then
\nfeel like something else, and order that. Oh, and then how about
\nsomething else.\"<\/p>\n
Although her weight gain was not an issue for her family (\"all
\nof my family have big bones, except for one of my sisters who is
\nreally small\"), others were critical. \"There were no positive
\ncomments, nobody would say 'you look good'. It was all about,
\n'wow, you really have got fat'.\"<\/p>\n
The additional kilos also got in the way of her career
\nambitions after she took a course on being a TV host. An audition
\nat a private TV station ended in rejection.<\/p>\n
\"The producer said to me that he really liked me but I was too
\nfat. He said, 'please call me when you've lost 10 or 15 kilos'\".<\/p>\n
Initially she desperately tried to diet, making the round of
\nenterprises providing hopes of slimness.<\/p>\n
\"I wanted to be able to dress up like other girls. I went to
\nslimming centers, to an acupuncturist, I tried everything and
\nspent a lot of money. And then when I had gained about 50 percent
\nmore, I realized it was all making me fatter. If I was going to
\ndiet, it should be about being healthy, not about being skinny.\"<\/p>\n
She persisted in her career ambitions, took a course on having
\nthe confidence to pursue one's ambitions -- and the doors slowly
\nbegan to open.<\/p>\n
She was hired as the sidekick to Indra Safera, and then his
\nreplacement Eko, on the gossip show KISS. It panned out into a
\ncareer of regular emceeing gigs, TV appearances and now the talk
\nshow.<\/p>\n
Hughes balked at the suggestion her fame was based on her
\nnovelty value as an overweight female entertainer with a pretty
\nface.<\/p>\n
\"People knew me when I was 58 kilos, when I was 70 kilos and
\nnow when I'm more than 100 kilos. I'm not a joke, I'm a
\npresenter.\"<\/p>\n
She scored a major coup when she was selected to host an
\ninterview earlier this year with Miss Universe Lara Dutta, along
\nwith other guests MTV veejay Sarah, model-presenter Carolina and
\nactress Desy Ratnasari.<\/p>\n
Even with her career in high gear and her assertion that being
\nfat was not a big issue, Hughes acknowledged old attitudes die
\nhard. She is single for the time being because \"I'm tired of
\nIndonesian men telling me 'I love you, but could you be slimmer
\nfor me, please?'. I can live without that.\"<\/p>\n
Role model<\/p>\n
Hughes said overweight people also needed to realize they were
\nno different from others except when it came to the number on the
\nscale. \"We are normal, not handicapped. We have two eyes, two
\narms, two feet. We don't need to have a club demanding the rights
\nof fat people.\"<\/p>\n
She is planning to open a clothing store for large women -- to
\nbe named Big -- before the end of the year. Hughes said she was
\nproud if other large women considered her a role model.<\/p>\n
\"Women sometimes come up to me and say they are wearing red or
\nsome other color again because they saw me wearing bright colors.
\nI used to always wear black -- black everything -- until one day
\nmy then manager told me she was fed up with seeing me in black.<\/p>\n
\"I started wearing colors the next day and have never gone
\nback. Now I feel strange if I have to put on anything black.\"<\/p>\n
Despite her avowed confidence in her weight (\"I would be so
\nbitchy thin -- skinny girls are bitchy\"), would she be tempted if
\nthere was a wonder drug guaranteeing thinness?<\/p>\n
\"Yes, I have to say I would take it, but not to be model-
\nskinny. It would not be about being thin to look good, but for
\nhealth. When I have a little trouble breathing, then I think it
\nwould be better to lose some weight.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/weighty-issues-with-oversize-entertainer-hughes-1447893297",
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