Margaret Cho walked on stage to a standing ovation from more than 500 people, following the screening of her film, “I’m the one that I want,” held at the University Union Ballroom at Sacramento State.

Cho made a personal appearance after the show to talk about the message of her film. The title of the movie speaks to self-acceptance.

“The film is about self-esteem and what happens when you don’t have it,” Cho said.Cho, who dropped out of high school at the age of 16 to pursue a career in comedy, stated that she never in her life felt accepted until her show “All American Girl” was picked up by the network.

” When I found out my pilot had gone to series, it was the first time in my life that I felt acceptance. You know, I’ve never found acceptance anywhere, not frommy family, not from kids at the play ground, not from high school, and certainly not from other stand-up comedians. I had never found acceptance unitl that moment. I felt real. I felt alive. I felt like for the first time in my life, I was not invisible,” Cho said.

After the first pilot, the network executives advised her that there was a problem of Cho being too heavy for television. If she did not lose weight, her show could be cancelled.

Cho stated that she decided to go on a crash diet after receiving the executives’ statements. She did not have time to exercise, so she took diet pills.

” I lost 30 pounds in 2 weeks, and my kidneys collapsed, and I was urinating blood. At that point, the network executives determined that my face could now fit on the screen,” Cho said.

Cho stated that she tried so hard to keep the weight off, but the tabloids still called her “fat and ugly.” Regardless of her efforts, the network cancelled the show anyway.

“My show was cancelled and replaced with Drew Carey because he is so skinny. When the show was over, I fell apart, and I did not know who I was at all. I had no self-esteem and turned into an alcoholic. I would be so drunk on stage that I would have to holdon to the mike-stand to keep the room from spinning around,” Cho said.

Cho told the audiance that when she finally decided that enough was enough, she came to the conclusion that losing the show was not worth dying for.

“I came to the conclusion that I was not gonna die because by sit-com was cancelled, and I am not gonna die because some producer tried to take advantage of me, and I am not gonna die because some network executive producer said that I was fat. It’s wrong, so I stopped drinking and felt a lot better'” Cho said to a cheering crowd.

Cho stated that she has been sober for 3 years now and is working on another show and on writing a book. She related to the audience that self-esteem is the most important thing and to stay true to yourself.

The audience appeared touched and moved by Cho’s presentation.

” I like that fact that she is honest about herself. She does not hide behind anything. She is very open, up front about everything, her life. She does not have anything to hide,” Duc Nguyen said.

“I thought the show was really good. I think that she is like a really good model for like, Asian Americans because she has a lot of personality. Everything she says is about her life, and she’s just putting herself out there and she does it in a funny way,” stated Sarah Reyes.

“I think that it is very interesting that she came out after the show to present herself to the audience,” said Larry Couter.

“I thought the show was straight from the heart. It was really kind of her to come out here and share her personal experience, and hopefully, it will inspire people to follow their heart. I know a lot of college students have a hard time figuring out what you want to do with your life, and hopefully, she’ll steer some people in the right direction,” said Arniga Quosig.