Stars Fill Out: PEOPLE

By Stephen M. Silverman

04/24/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

Thin is still in? Not necessarily, according to the latest cover story in PEOPLE. In recent months, reports the magazine, a growing band of leading ladies -- among them Charlize Theron, Sandra Bullock, Drew Barrymore, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Jennifer Lopez -- have begun to say it loud and say it proud: Yes, they eat; yes, they enjoy it; and no, they are not finding that they have to be a size 0 to get work. "You know, when I put on 15 lbs. (after making 1994's 'Speed'), I was like, 'Oh my God!' " admits Sandra Bullock, 36. "But I didn't stop eating those cookies. It's actually liberating." Now resigned to the idea that "I'm never going to be thin and waiflike -- I tried, it's not going to work," Bullock tells PEOPLE that she's never been happier. The added pounds, she says, "round you out. I love my body now that it's softer."