As she walks into the ballroom of an airport hotel, 20 women offer a collective(1) swoon(2). Then come reactions one would expect were reserved just for Oprah: the screeches(3), the tears, the fluttering hand over the heart. One woman is hyperventilating(4), breathlessly squealing(5): "Ommigod! It's Mo'Nique! It's Mo'Nique!"

Looking like a plus-sized black Barbie in a green polka-dot(6) sundress, her hair in a playful flip, the 39-year-old actress-comedian is quickly engulfed(7) by her "fat girls." She embraces them, trying not to muss(8) her makeup with her own tears.

"I always think I'm going to do fine when I get to this point, but I know your tears," she tells them, each a finalist in the third year of her big-girl beauty competition, "Mo'Nique's F.A.T. Chance" — as in "Fabulous And Thick."

With cameras rolling, Mo'Nique moves around the room proclaiming each woman "Miss F.A.T.". The first one-hour show, "Mo'Nique's F.A.T. Chance: The Road to Paris," aired Saturday and features these and 2,000 other women who answered open casting calls(9) in Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas.

Of them, five were chosen to strut their stuff(10) in glamorous gowns on a runway at the Le Grand Hotel in Paris. The two-hour show, "Mo'Nique's F.A.T. Chance: Paris," ends with the $50,000 grand prize winner and the crowning of a new Miss F.A.T.

"We wanted to go beyond the beauty pageant," Mo'Nique says, kicking off her high-heeled sandals(11) during a taping break(12). "We also wanted to create runway fashion shows, to give fat girls the option of saying, `Yeah, we've got this, too!' It's about taking the show to the next level."

It's also about continuing to break stereotypes worldwide. "When we first went (to Paris), some of the places we went to had the same feeling as in America — like, `What? Fat women? No thank you.' But then there were people that totally got it."

"What was so wonderful for me was that I was IN that group of women," says Mo'Nique, who lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Sidney Hicks, and their 21-month old twin boys. She has two teenage sons from a previous marriage.

"I'm the same woman that dreams of going to the fashion capital of the world and being a supermodel. I had the same dreams they had as a little girl."

But size isn't the only thing that matters.

"Mo'Nique's whole philosophy of life, and the philosophy of the show, is to love yourself, to be the best you can be," says longtime friend and executive producer Don Weiner.

当她步入机场酒店的舞厅，20位女子欣喜若狂。然后出现了只有见到Oprah才会有的反应：尖叫、哭泣、胸前颤动的双手。其中一个女子喘不上气来地尖叫：“哦！我的天！Mo'Nique！是Mo'Nique”。

这位39岁的喜剧演员身穿一袭绿色的圆点花阳裙，头发调皮地翘着，看上去如同大码的黑肤芭比娃娃，很快被她的“胖女孩们”团团围住。她与她们相拥，泪水差点冲坏了脸上的妆。

在第三届胖女孩选美大赛“Mo'Nique F.A.T.环肥小姐”上，她对每一位决赛选手说：“一直以为当我来到这里能够控制好自己的情绪，但是我了解你们的眼泪。” F.A.T.的意思是“Fabulous And Thick”。

随着摄像机的转动，Mo'Nique在舞厅中翩翩走动，为大家介绍每一位“环肥小姐”。周六。“Mo'Nique's环肥小姐：通往巴黎之路”第一小时节目播出，为大家展示了两千多位来自洛杉矶、芝加哥和达拉斯的小姐的海选。

其中五名脱颖而出，可以穿上迷人的礼服裙在巴黎大饭店展示风采。此节目最终颁发5万美元大奖并评选出一名新的环肥小姐。

换摄影带休息的时候，Mo'Nique脱掉高跟凉鞋说：“我们希望能够超越选美比赛的概念，把它办成时装秀的舞台，让胖女孩也可以这样说：‘是的，我们也能参加时装秀！’这样节目就上升了一个层次。”

这也正逐渐打破全世界的固有观念。“初到巴黎，一些地方的人和美国人的反应一样—‘什么？胖女人？不，谢谢你！’但是后来已经有人能够完全接受了。”

Mo'Nique目前和丈夫Sidney Hicks、21个月的双胞胎男孩以及和前夫的两个十来岁的儿子住在洛杉矶。她说：“当我和她们聚集到一起，感觉非常好。”

“我和其他女孩拥有同样的梦想，渴望来到世界时尚之都，成为超级模特。当我还小的时候就同大家一样地梦想着。”

但是体形并非唯一的决定因素。

Mo'Nique的老朋友、监制Don Weiner说：“Mo'Nique的人生哲学、节目哲学就是爱自己，尽力做到最好。”