Meg Bellamy, the young British actress who portrayed Kate Middleton in season six of Netflix favorite The Crown, has revealed an onslaught of “torment” from social media trolls who said she was “too fat” to play the Princess-to-be.
Bellamy, just 21 years old, was tapped to take on the role for the show’s final ever season last year, alongside Ed McVey as a young Prince William, as the pair courted one another at St Andrews University in the early 2000s.
Speaking to the Mail Online, Berkshire-born Bellamy spoke about the hours of Kate Middleton footage she watched to prepare for the part, as well as the advice from Elizabeth Debicki, playing Princess Diana, who asked the directors to share her phone number with Bellamy.
But at the Los Angeles premiere of the program, the actress explained that she picked up some criticism for wearing a low-cut dress. “I’d had this long day of press, it had gone well, then I went on my phone and there was all this negative stuff about my body online,” Bellamy said. The comments were mostly: “You’re too fat to play Kate.”
“That was a glimpse into being a woman in this industry. I thought, ‘Okay, that’s a sign to distance yourself, because it doesn’t mean anything.’” She does not read social media comments anymore. “You can’t listen to that sort of stuff,” especially as many of the comments are left by what Bellamy describes as “men called Gary who are holding a fish in their profile picture.”
“I’ve had so many amazing things happen to me,” she adds. “They’re the losers for saying that. I’m living my best life over here.”
While expecting the show to be a “big machine,” the reality was “far more relaxed,” Bellamy said. “Especially because it was the final season – [I thought] everyone would be, like: ‘Don’t mess it up! You’ve come into our very successful show. Do your part and do it well!’” But starring in The Crown has transformed her career. She boasts the same agent as Robert Pattinson and Dev Patel: “The auditions I get now would have been my wildest dreams.”
The Crown, a royal historical drama written and created by Peter Morgan, culminated with season six in November 2023. It has more Emmys (21) than any other Netflix show.