Actresses whose most well-known role involves being effortlessly slender, socially captivating, and relentlessly put together face a specific type of pressure. For Annie Murphy, that role was that of Alexis Rose on Schitt’s Creek, a character so physically flawless and glittering that viewers subtly started to anticipate the same from the actress portraying her. To her great credit, Annie has made it abundantly evident over the past few years that she has no desire to live up to that.
It wasn’t paparazzi pictures or tabloid headlines that sparked the discussion about Annie Murphy’s weight gain. It began with Annie herself, or at least with what she decided to make public about a year that disintegrated her in secret. She spoke about the early stages of the pandemic in a 2021 interview with a brutal honesty that seemed genuinely uncommon. Teeth chattering, lying on the floor, unable to move, crying twelve times a day. It had to be her mother who told her that this wasn’t normal. That particular detail sticks. It’s the kind of thing you say only after you’ve progressed to the point where you can express it clearly.
The body is affected by depression. Anyone who has experienced a severe episode is aware of the sleep disturbances, altered eating habits, and days when it seems nearly impossible to move. Murphy’s body was experiencing something genuine, not something staged for a magazine story, when she was diagnosed and eventually started taking antidepressants. It’s important to make that clear because, far too frequently, the conversation about a woman’s changing body is reduced to an aesthetic assessment, devoid of the real human circumstances that led to it.
In March 2020, Murphy was supposed to start filming Kevin Can F**k Himself. All of that was put on hold by the pandemic, and she took a plane back to Canada. Months of real struggle ensued, including counseling, medication, and the gradual process of regaining functioning. Something had obviously changed in her by the time she went back to work, both internally and, for those who were paying close attention, outwardly. She had a new appearance. Not sick, not worse, just different. Similar to someone who had experienced something and wasn’t attempting to conceal it.
There’s a feeling that when viewers admire an actor’s appearance during a show’s prime, they occasionally forget what they’re actually watching. That version of a body is managed because of the production schedule, the regulated diet, and the personal trainers discreetly included in call sheet budgets. A diagnosis of depression in real life, particularly in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, usually yields a different outcome. Some of the attention surrounding Annie Murphy’s weight gain might just be the result of people being shocked to see an actress who looks like a real person.
Murphy is intriguing because she has never really addressed it as a weight or beauty issue. She discusses mental health. She claims that antidepressants have saved her life. She expresses a desire to be seen as “a cool dude” instead of an it-girl. Someone who has made her body the point is not responding in this way. Which, to be honest, makes the public’s obsession with it seem a little out of place.
There’s something subtly fulfilling about seeing her career grow—Black Mirror, Praise Petey, an expanding list of projects—because the work keeps coming in. The transformation, if you will, is neither a before-and-after nor a weight chart. This woman had a horrible year, received assistance, returned, and persevered. That’s the tale. The rest is just noise.
FAQs
1. Did Annie Murphy publicly address her weight gain?
She focused on her depression diagnosis rather than directly discussing weight changes.
2. What caused Annie Murphy’s physical transformation?
A severe depression episode during the 2020 pandemic lockdown significantly affected her body.
3. When was Annie Murphy diagnosed with depression?
Her therapist diagnosed her after she returned home to Canada in early 2020.
4. Did medication play a role in Annie Murphy’s body changes?
She began antidepressants, which she credited with making her a functional human again.
5. Has Annie Murphy’s career suffered due to her personal struggles?
No — she continues landing major roles across television and streaming platforms.
