Delta Burke used crystal meth for weight loss

Delta Burke

Delta Burke turned to crystal meth in a bid to lose weight.

The 67-year-old actress – who is best known for playing Suzanne Sugarbaker for five seasons on ‘Designing Women’ – was prescribed weight-loss pills while at acting school in London but when she returned to the US, she learned her prescription was illegal Stateside, so looked out for other assistance to help her shed pounts.

On the set of ‘Filthy Rich’, which ran from 1982 to 1983, Delta found someone able to get her a similar drug, which she called “Black Beauties” and would “take them in the morning so [I] wouldn’t eat”, but after building up a tolerance, someone on the show suggested she try methamphetamine instead.

Speaking on the ‘Glamorous Trash’ podcast, she said: “Nobody knew about crystal meth at the time.

“[They told me,] ‘You chop it up. You snort.’ I said, ‘I don’t want to snort it.’ So I put it in cranberry juice and [drank] it… and wouldn’t eat for five days.”

But the actress still faced criticism for her size, which she now feels was unwarranted.

She added: “They were still saying, ‘Your butt’s too big. Your legs are too big.’ And I now look back at those pictures and go, ‘I was a freaking goddess.’ “

After ‘Filthy Rich’ ended, Delta landed her Emmy award-nominated role in ‘Designing Women’ but the ongoing focus on her weight led to her departure in 1991, with the actress admitting she was “emotionally too fragile” at the time to cope with the “incredibly ugly” stories about her size.

She said: “I thought I was stronger. I tried very hard to defend myself against lies and all the ugliness that was there and I wasn’t gonna win. I’m just an actress, you know. I don’t have any power…

“[One time] on the set, when it got to be really bad, and I wasn’t handling it well with a smiling face, my whole body language changed. I would kind of hunch over… I just tried to disappear.

“Hollywood will mess your head up. And I had always thought, ‘I want to be a famous actress.’ I thought that meant that you would be a famous and well-respected actress, but that’s not what it meant. And the moment I became famous, it was like, ‘Oh no, no, no. This is not what I had in mind at all. I don’t think I want to be this anymore.’ But then it’s too late.”