Jill Whelan Explains How Late “Love Boat” Producer Pressured Her About Her Weight with Manipulative Wardrobe Move

Angela AndaloroWed, April 29, 2026 at 1:00 PM UTC

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Lauren Tewes, Jill Whelan, Mariette Hartley and Gavin Macleod in "The Love Boat"Credit: ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty -

Jill Whelan played Vicki Stubing on The Love Boat from 1978 to 1987

Growing up on the show allowed Whelan to form a special connection with her costars, but it also led her to be targeted by one of the show's producers

Whelan appeared on the Still Here Hollywood podcast, discussing why she and the late Doug Cramer never meshed

Jill Whelan is opening up about the darker side of her time on The Love Boat.

The actress, 59, played Vicki Stubing, the captain's daughter, on the ensemble drama, giving her the opportunity to work with many different folks on the set. In an appearance on the Still Here Hollywood podcast, Whelan talked about having "fond memories of my cast and our crew and Aaron Spelling."

Whelan says that there was one person on the set, however, whom she found adversarial.

"Not so fond memories of Doug Cramer, however, because Doug was a misogynist and I've never talked about it. But he's passed now and his children are passed as well. So I feel safe in saying, but he was not an advocate of women, at all." Whelan said.

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Jill Whelan in November 1981 (left) and in 2023Credit: ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty; JC Olivera/Getty

Cramer, one of the producers on Love Boat, died in June 2021. Whelan maintained, "He was not a good human."

Whelan cited an incident during wardrobe fittings where Cramer manipulated the situation to concern her and costar Lauren Tewes.

"When we would come, Lauren Tewes, who played Julie McCoy, we would come to a wardrobe fitting at a new season, to get new uniforms and new evening gowns and new loungewear, and he would call the wardrobe department and tell them to buy everything one or two sizes smaller than we are so that we would come in and be embarrassed in fittings about things not fitting," she shared.

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"The Love Boat" cast, 1979Credit: ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Moments like that impacted Whelan's feelings about her body and prompted her to take action.

"I remember one time, and at that particular time, I was going through puberty, and it's, you know, things happen in puberty. I had gone to a fat farm, or I guess you would say today a spa. I went to a spa in Ojai and I had lost some weight and I was also working with some crazy doctor who had me on 400 calories a day."

Host Steve Kmetko remarked that was "too drastic," and Whelan agreed, adding, "It screws with your metabolism and everything."

Whelan said that she found herself also punished for losing the weight, explaining, "I just learned this information from a dear friend of mine, who was his executive assistant."

"She said we were in dailies one day, and for people who what that is, once you shoot a day, at least in film, on the set the next day, the editor prepares everything, all the takes and everything, that the director has said print to. And the producers and the director and everybody that needs to, watches it on the big screen," she explained.

"There's a scene where I come out of an elevator and the doors open into a purser's lobby, and I'm in an evening gown with a sweetheart neckline and she said, 'You looked great.' It was a full-body shot, and Doug said, 'Oh, no, I don't want that shot. I don't want to see her looking thin. I'm pissed off she was fat in the first place. Neck up only."

Despite those difficult times, Whelan still loves her castmates and looks back fondly on her time on the show. Whelan has reunited with costars Fred Grandy, Bernie Kopell and Ted Lange on Princess' The Love Boat Celebration for reunions in recent years, telling PEOPLE in 2025 the events are "super fun."

“It's really special because I'm working with them as an adult now rather than as a kid,” the actress says. “We enjoy each other's company and we enjoy each other's intellect — whether we have it or we don't — but we all love each other's sense of humor and we know each other so well. When we work together, there is a shorthand that is super satisfying.”

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