Weighty issues with oversize entertainer Hughes

Weighty issues with oversize entertainer Hughes

By Bruce Emond

JAKARTA (JP): Emcee-cum-talk show host Dewi Hughes bristles
whenever she hears the "F" word. Most recently it was a
journalist, tired at the wait for a show to begin, who committed
the offense.

"He shouted at me, 'hey, fatso, when is everything going to
get started?'" Hughes said recently over a brunch of calamari and
cappuccino. "I was so angry that I went right over to him and
said in English, 'my name is Hughes -- say it Uges -- and that is
what you call me. And if you ever call me that other name again,
you will see what I'll do'."

At 165 cm and 104 kg, Hughes is doing her part to break down
the barriers for overweight women in the Indonesian entertainment
world. She emcees gatherings, hosts the new RCTI Saturday night
talk show Angin Malam (Night Wind) and acts occasionally, most
recently in the multimedia show JokoTingkir (she is also the
woman dining out and being pampered in a commercial for a
Pepsodent competition).

She said it was difficult because fat characters were
traditionally the butt of jokes in local comedies. "That is one
thing I will not do, the jokes. I watch fat women being insulted
and pushed around, called names, in shows, and I think why do
they let that happen to themselves?"

Hughes has been through thick and thin times, both in terms of
her weight and her career.

One of six daughters born to a Balinese father and a Dutch-
Balinese mother, the 29 year old moved with her family to several
cities in Java when she was young (she converted to Islam when
the family was living in Banten, West Java) before settling in
Jakarta.

Her unusual name was the choice of her father, who was
fascinated by the life of American tycoon and airline pioneer
Howard Hughes.

"When I was in elementary school, the headmaster would call me
Hughes, but say it Uges, and it stuck. I like having the name
because nobody else has it here. And it was nothing unusual in my
family -- one of my sisters is called Kissinger."

She studied at a vocational high school for teachers in
Jakarta, and then continued to Atma Jaya University, also in
Jakarta, with a major in English. Her father died in 1986, and
Hughes said she took additional work, such as a promotional girl
for a publishing company, to help her family.

Child psychologist Kak Seto spotted her one day when she was
explaining a children's story to some kids.

"He told me that I was good at telling stories and that I
could work with him. He would tell the story in Indonesian to the
children, and I would tell it in English. I remember the first
one we did was Little Red Riding Hood."

She drew on her past experience by playing a teacher in
Pengalaman Sherina (Sherina's Adventure), the huge box-office hit
which has breathed new life into the Indonesian film industry.

Hughes said her weight gain began about 10 years ago when she
was ordered to rest and recuperate after a liver ailment.

"I was not eating right, sleeping right. I was told to stop
swimming, stop heavy physical activity and eat what I wanted. I
would have a big glass full of sugar every day."

She said she hit the ground running when it came to chowing
down, but found she could not put on the brakes even when she was
fully recovered.

"I just kept eating and eating. I became lazy about everything
except eating. I failed a class because I was too lazy to climb
the stairs to the classroom. Imagine that."

In the meantime, she set up her own company to provide
entertainment for children's parties. "I had Rp 150,000 to start
with, to buy the clown's costumes and equipment, but we did very
well. We charged Rp 350,000 which included the clowns, some party
gifts."

The weight piled on as she adopted a pattern of compulsive
eating. She admitted that part of the problem was she ate from
loneliness.

"After the parties, the parents would usually give me half of
the cake to take home. I would go home and eat it by myself. Or I
would go out to restaurants and eat. I love steak, noodles and
Coca-Cola, especially coke. I was drinking a liter a day. And I
had to eat rice, or else I would say I hadn't eaten."

She would go out in search of food.

"I loved to go out driving. I would drive up to Puncak where
there is this great Balinese restaurant. It's hard to find it
because it's on a small road in the mountains. I would sit there,
reading magazines and eating. I would have something, and then
feel like something else, and order that. Oh, and then how about
something else."

Although her weight gain was not an issue for her family ("all
of my family have big bones, except for one of my sisters who is
really small"), others were critical. "There were no positive
comments, nobody would say 'you look good'. It was all about,
'wow, you really have got fat'."

The additional kilos also got in the way of her career
ambitions after she took a course on being a TV host. An audition
at a private TV station ended in rejection.

"The producer said to me that he really liked me but I was too
fat. He said, 'please call me when you've lost 10 or 15 kilos'".

Initially she desperately tried to diet, making the round of
enterprises providing hopes of slimness.

"I wanted to be able to dress up like other girls. I went to
slimming centers, to an acupuncturist, I tried everything and
spent a lot of money. And then when I had gained about 50 percent
more, I realized it was all making me fatter. If I was going to
diet, it should be about being healthy, not about being skinny."

She persisted in her career ambitions, took a course on having
the confidence to pursue one's ambitions -- and the doors slowly
began to open.

She was hired as the sidekick to Indra Safera, and then his
replacement Eko, on the gossip show KISS. It panned out into a
career of regular emceeing gigs, TV appearances and now the talk
show.

Hughes balked at the suggestion her fame was based on her
novelty value as an overweight female entertainer with a pretty
face.

"People knew me when I was 58 kilos, when I was 70 kilos and
now when I'm more than 100 kilos. I'm not a joke, I'm a
presenter."

She scored a major coup when she was selected to host an
interview earlier this year with Miss Universe Lara Dutta, along
with other guests MTV veejay Sarah, model-presenter Carolina and
actress Desy Ratnasari.

Even with her career in high gear and her assertion that being
fat was not a big issue, Hughes acknowledged old attitudes die
hard. She is single for the time being because "I'm tired of
Indonesian men telling me 'I love you, but could you be slimmer
for me, please?'. I can live without that."

Role model

Hughes said overweight people also needed to realize they were
no different from others except when it came to the number on the
scale. "We are normal, not handicapped. We have two eyes, two
arms, two feet. We don't need to have a club demanding the rights
of fat people."

She is planning to open a clothing store for large women -- to
be named Big -- before the end of the year. Hughes said she was
proud if other large women considered her a role model.

"Women sometimes come up to me and say they are wearing red or
some other color again because they saw me wearing bright colors.
I used to always wear black -- black everything -- until one day
my then manager told me she was fed up with seeing me in black.

"I started wearing colors the next day and have never gone
back. Now I feel strange if I have to put on anything black."

Despite her avowed confidence in her weight ("I would be so
bitchy thin -- skinny girls are bitchy"), would she be tempted if
there was a wonder drug guaranteeing thinness?

"Yes, I have to say I would take it, but not to be model-
skinny. It would not be about being thin to look good, but for
health. When I have a little trouble breathing, then I think it
would be better to lose some weight."