Dylan Sprouse dealt with a body-shaming incident when he was a child on the set of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, his on-screen mom, Kim Rhodes, revealed in a new interview. Kim, 54, went on Christy Carlson Romano’s Vulnerable podcast on November 28 and got emotional recalling the moment that a Disney executive shamed Dylan, now 31, for weighing more than his twin brother and co-star Cole Sprouse, also 31.
“Someone of significant power came down to the craft service, which is where they have all the tasty food, and screamed at the number of donuts, and said, ‘No more junk food until he [Dylan] looks like him [Cole] again,’ ” Kim said. “Because Dylan and Cole had different body types. And in front of everyone, Dylan was body-shamed.”
Kim revealed that she defended her on-screen son and “f***ing lit into” the exec, whose name she kept a secret. “I was like, ‘You do not have the right to say that to a child. You do not have the right to be writing for children if that is your attitude. Never again do you speak like that. Never,’ ” Kim recalled.
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The Sprouse twins were 12 years old when they started The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. The show ran from 2005 to 2008 and spawned a spinoff, The Suite Life on Deck, which aired from 2008 to 2011 also on Disney Channel. After his time playing Zack Martin came to an end, Dylan went to New York University and graduated with a degree in video game design. He recently got married his girlfriend, model Barbara Palvin, 30, with Cole serving as his best man.
While appearing on the Back to the Best podcast, Kim said that Dylan and Cole were “very protective” of all their co-stars on the set of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Kim even recalled the moment Dylan refused to tell a “fat joke” at her expense when she was pregnant while they were filming the show.
“One of my favorite memories is Dylan had a line that was a fat joke, and he just kept skipping over it. It was like in the middle of a chunk of dialogue, so he kept skipping this laugh line,” she said. “And finally we get in front of the studio audience and he skips it, and the executive producer screams, ‘Cut! Dylan, say the line!’ And he goes, ‘I would not disrespect any woman that way, let alone this woman. You write something funny and I’ll say it.’ “