Oscar nominated actress Gabourey Sidibe, 27, was on Jimmy Kimmel Live earlier this week. (Videos below) I’ve never seen her interviewed before and she’s really funny and told some great stories. I was surprised at first by how big she is as I’ve never seen her on video and, let’s face it, we’re used to seeing stick thin people on television. She cracked me up so much that I soon got over it. We’ve heard diva rumors about Gabby, but she came across very well here and I found her so entertaining. She was promoting her role on the Showtime series The Big C, with Laura Linney. The first season is airing now and it’s been picked up for a second season. Here’s some of what she said:
On freaking out after accidentally buying a pot flavored lollipop in Amsterdam
I took a trip to Amsterdam, I won this award or something… then I parlayed it into like 3 days in Amsterdam… I’m a nerd and I don’t smoke pot. I went to a souvenir shop and I just wanted to buy a regular lollipop. I accidentally bought weed lollipops… I got so scared. I felt like a criminal… it turns out it wasn’t weed pops, it was weed flavored pops. I’m hallucinating thinking I’m high and really I’m just stupid.On going to the red light district
I took a tour. It’s so crazy. The prostitutes there pay taxes they have health insurance and everything. The red light district is next to a church and in the middle of all these windows with ladies in them.. wearing bikinis and lingerie and stuff there is seriously an elementary school in between these windows. The kids who go there are like 4 or 5 years old till they’re like 9 or 10. They tell the kids when they first start going that the ladies are just getting ready to go to the beach. By the time they graduate they know what’s up.On living without a roommate for once
One of [my roommates] was weird. The two of us who were cool moved on to better and bigger things in Manhattan. I could have done it, if that one dude wasn’t weird. I live by myself… All of my food spoils because I can never eat it fast enough. Haha, I see your joke [laughs] but I can’t eat it. I’m pretty sure there’s still a burrito there from when I first moved in.On seeing ghosts as a kid
I’m not afraid of burglars or anything because there’s lots of security, but there’s no security system that protects you from ghosts. [There aren’t ghosts] in my current house, but when I was growing up in my apartment in Brooklyn my brother and I used to play with ghosts and I know I sound crazy but it happened. I definitely remember a woman in a wedding dress and I remember a cowboy… [laughs] there was a rumor that my building was built on a burial ground.Kimmel: sometimes kids I don’t know if they’re half dreaming or imaginary friends. They convince each other when it’s brother and sister. My kids thought they saw a ghost in the house.
Sidibe: Maybe they did, you just don’t trust your kids. They see it!
To all the people who are going to immediately rag on Gabby for her weight – watch a little of the videos first. (I don’t know why I’m bothering to say that, as it’s not like those people are going to read this far.) If you can’t do so at work and were just going to write some variation of “she’s big,” please wait to comment until you can get home and watch them. I would like to make this about her interview, not about her size. Yes it’s hard not to notice and she is “unhealthy” at that weight, but I doubt the people who are prone to mocking her care about her health at all. I understand the need to comment on it, but please no flame wars.
Getting back to the ghost issue – I agree with Kimmel that it was probably an issue of kids with overactive imaginations. I don’t believe in ghosts now, but there was a time when I did. I saw a few supernatural things that seemed real to me. Unlike Gabby I wasn’t avoiding drugs much at that point and I’m sure that would explain a lot of it. I would have had a lot more than just some pot lollipops in Amsterdam.
Thanks to ONTD for the heads up on these videos. There’s also a cute skit, the third one below, where Gabby tells Jimmy that she needs him to help out a sick kid. It’s pretty funny.
