Although she dropped 100 lbs. “The pressures that caused you to seek solace in food are still there when you come home from the hospital.”Despite having no previous acting experience, she earned critical acclaim.The actress told the paper she hoped to play roles similar to the one that she is remembered best for today.After the seeing the show, Hedges reached out to Cates and offered her the role of Bonnie Grape.“No one could’ve been more surprised than I was because I was just a fat housewife in Forney, Texas, of all places,” said Cates, who subsequently auditioned at her home for Hallström and producers.
– and is feeling optimistic that she might act again.Cates is down from 575 to 331 lbs., and hopes to lose 100 more. She even tried an early version of gastric bypass in 1981, People reported, which helped her lose 100 pounds at … And while she remains housebound in her Forney, Texas home, Darlene Cates is celebrating a triumph in her battle for better health - and one that may have her back on the big screen. Although she dropped 100 lbs. Darlene Cates, best remembered as the actress who played Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio‘s obese, housebound mother in the 1993 film What’s … The Dallas Morning News reported that Cates’ top weight was 575 pounds… With luck, she’ll be back outside before long, and will hopefully act again – following her acclaimed work two decades ago.Cates would like more roles – one or two projects a year, she says. “It was just like God was saying, ‘I know you don’t get out much, so here, this is a gift,’ ” she says.Now, almost 20 years and a number of health problems later, Cates, 64, has lost nearly 250 lbs. Darlene Cates hopes to lose 100 more lbs., and is optimistic she will act againFor now, she remains housebound. On one rare trip outside, on Father’s Day back in June, Cates and her grandson were suddenly swarmed by butterflies. They don’t cut that out during surgery,” she explained. But first, she’ll have to complete her recovery from a series of health scares and four surgeries that kept her in hospital for almost 11 months, until last November.
She saw it as a sign. Although she did have a gastroplasty in 1981, she re-gained much of the weight she lost. Darlene Cates Loses 250 Lbs., Sets Sights on Acting Again Darlene Cates hopes to lose 100 more lbs., and is optimistic she will act again By Tim Nudd “I was sort of skeptical, but when I started reading, Lasse threw his hands in the air and said, ‘Finally! “I can do moms real well,” Cates said. In a 2004 PEOPLE story, Cates shared that she had her stomach stapled in 1981 when she weighed 410 lbs. “I don’t have to delve very deep to find Mom in there.”In a 2004 PEOPLE story, Cates shared that she had her stomach stapled in 1981 when she weighed 410 lbs.
thanks to the surgery, the weight came back plus some, causing her to tip the scales at 550 lbs.“That thing that made you fat in the first place? Dieting never seemed to work for long for Cates, the Dallas Morning News reported, as she turned to food for comfort when her husband, a Marine, was overseas. Somebody that can act!’ ”