The Sad Reason Raven-Symone’s Disney Channel Characters Always Wore Heels

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Raven-Symoné has revealed the real reason her Disney Channel characters always wore heels.

Fans of the 2003 series That’s So Raven may recall the now-38-year-old portraying a fashionista who almost always accessorized her stylish looks with heels. Raven is now opening up about the fact that those heels didn’t really have anything to do with fashion.

“There is an understanding that if you’re short and you wear heels, it thins you out,” Raven explained on the Wednesday, December 4 episode of the Unplanned Podcast, where she was joined by her wife, Miranda Maday. “‘Cause if you look taller, the proportions work out.”

The View alum explained that “behind the scenes” conversations with her team always led to her wearing heels. She pointed out that Galleria, her character in The Cheetah Girls, was the only one walking around in heels — even while traveling throughout Spain in the sequel — while everyone else wore sneakers.

“I was the biggest one, and when you look at That’s So Raven, every single outfit had on heels. I would be wearing heels and pajamas sometimes, just because it makes you look thinner,” Raven explained, as her wife commented, “It’s crazy.”

When asked by co-host Abby Howard what she wished her team would have told her regarding her weight and costuming, Raven responded, “I wish they wouldn’t… I actually don’t wish they said anything. I wish they would’ve just not said anything. Period.”

When the podcast hosts expressed apologies for the way Raven was treated as a child actor, she shrugged it off. “It was a different time period,” she reflected, referring to the early 2000s. “Yeah, nobody was my size at that time.”

This clip from the interview was shared to TikTok, where fans quickly flooded the comments to share their shock and sympathy.

“I just thought she was SLAYING 😭😭😭,” one fan commented.

Another posted, “I always wanted to wear heels with everything when I was younger because of ravens style 😫😫😫.”

“I always thought it was just part of her character’s style,” a third fan wrote, adding, “This is so sad 🥺.”

Raven, who was the youngest Black woman on TV to have a show named after her, starred on That’s So Raven from 2003 until 2007. Her character was revived in 2017, for the Disney Channel spin-off series Raven’s Home, with the star returning to play her titular character. The show ran for six seasons, ending in 2023.

She appeared as Galleria in the TV movie The Cheetah Girls in 2003, and returned for the sequel, The Cheetah Girls 2, in 2006. There was a third film released in 2008, but Raven was not a part of it.