“Chicago P.D.” star Tracy Spiridakos revealed a modeling agency once circled her “body flaws” and told her to lose weight at age 17.
Spiridakos recalled on Monday’s episode of the “I’ve Never Said This Before” podcast that after winning a modeling contest, one of her brothers took her to a meeting at a modeling agency, where she was told to put on a bikini for a photoshoot.
“I went, I put the bikini on, I came out and they took Polaroid pictures of me and then laid them out in front of me, and took a Sharpie and circled all my body flaws and laid them out and they said, ‘You have to lose weight here, here, and here if you want to do this,’” she shared.
Spiridakos, now 38, said she felt “deflated” in the moment and “didn’t really know what to say,” while her brother “got defensive” about the body shaming.
The agents, according to Spiridakos, told the pair, “She’s pretty for guy-meets-girl kind of pretty, but if she wants to make it in this industry, she’s got to lose weight.”
That comment “was like a gut punch” for Spiridakos, who explained how “excited” she was to get into modeling.
“And they were a pretty big agency,” Spiridakos added before admitting she couldn’t remember the company’s name.
The “Bates Motel” star and her brother “walked out” of the meeting, after which he consoled her and told her, “You’re not modeling anymore. I’m telling mom you’re done.”
Spiridakos admitted the incident left a lasting impact on her.
“It’s funny, because, those places on my body that they circled, even now — and it’s been a long time — I still see those things in the mirror,” she explained.
“I see those flaws, even though they’re not flaws, because you’re at such a young age and so impressionable at 17. And I have to tell myself that that is not real. And to just love yourself and to not care.”
Spiridakos added, “Don’t let anyone tell you how to live in your own body.”
About a year or two after that day at the modeling agency, Spiridakos landed her first on-screen role in a 2007 episode of “Supernatural.”
Her first major role was in the 2012 NBC series “Revolution,” for which she was nominated for a Saturn Award.
In 2017, Spiridakos began playing Detective Hailey Upton in “Chicago P.D.” She left the show in 2024, but returned for a guest appearance earlier this year.
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