Our girl Raven-Symoné is looking good! The Disney actress has grown a lot since her time on The Cosby Show, which she starred in from 1989 to 1992. Her transformation from a young starlet to a confident woman is really something to behold.
Despite her self-assurance as an adult, the former child star dealt with a lot of negative treatment during her sitcom days, including body-shaming — both on the set of the Bill Cosby series and her own show, That’s So Raven.
“I remember not being able to have the bagel or anything at [craft services] — we call it crafty — where it’s just a table of food ready for you to eat whenever you want,” the New York native, who married wife Miranda Maday in June 2020, revealed on The View in July 2015. “And I remember people were like, ‘You can’t eat that. You’re getting fat.’ I’m like, ‘I’m 7! I’m hungry!’”
Her mental and physical health were both significant factors in her weight gain over the years. “It’s more than what’s just the food — it’s what’s in the food,” Raven explained. “Your cortisol level and your serotonin level have a really strong influence on your body type.”
She starred in the Disney series from 2003 to 2007, and by the end of its run, she was at her “heaviest” weight, which she noted was around 185 pounds. At that time, Raven said people would consistently ask her if she was pregnant. “I’m like, ‘No, I’m fat, get away from me.’ This goes through all of our industry, just fat-shaming in general,” the View alum said. “Not accepting of females’ bodies.”
In 2011, she made a concerted effort to lose weight — and ended up shedding a whopping 70 pounds. “I was proud [of my body] at the time. I was. And I am. I love my thicky, thicky self,” she said in an interview in 2014.
But as soon as she shed the pounds, Raven said “it became thick-girl season,” with curvaceous body types coming to the forefront of Hollywood beauty trends. “Everyone just started to be thick on television,” she said. “I’m like, are they getting the same backlash as I am? Because I was thick.”
Thick or thin, the Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper star is gorgeous the way she is. Scroll through the gallery below to see Raven-Symoné’s incredible transformation over the years.