"I'm very good at feasting and fasting," she said. "In other words, I can eat a lot and I can eat a little but I'm not good at maintaining a 'normal' eating life. That's why I'm a food tramp -- because I eat around."
The 81-year-old actress, who says she remembers her life around what she was eating and what everyone around her was eating, admitted she's tried every weight loss program in the book -- and even ones that aren't in the book. The result? A comedic one-woman show “My Life On A Diet" set for 8 p.m. on Friday Novl. 21 and at 2 p.m. Nov. 22 at the White Plains Performing Arts Center.
The 90-minute performance is a nostalgic culmination of her 60-plus years in show business (including a longtime friendship with Marilyn Monroe), as well as a humorous memoir of her diet misadventures. It is co-written and directed by her husband of 49 years, actor-director Joe Bologna.
It is also, as Taylor confessed, "a lot more intimate and meaningful than most people expect."
"I thought if I ate like other actresses I knew I would be as thin and beautiful as they were," she said. "It's frankly embarrassing to look back and see how fat I was at some parts in my life, as well as how thin." The yo-yo dieter, now a size 12, admits she's been everything from a four to an 18.
And she's still at it, most recently trying Dr. Oz's Two-Week Rapid Weight-Loss Diet along with a host of master cleanses and juices. "Right now I'm a vegan," she said. "Until I need a steak."
In fact, when asked what struck her most about her last performance in White Plains, she said, "The restaurants."
Tickets are $25 to $50: Visit the theater box office at 11 City Place, 328-1600 or go online to www.wppac.com.
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