In a recent episode of TV One’s Uncensored, Raven-Symoné revealed how Hollywood began distorting her ideas about weight.

According to Vibe, Raven-Symoné said that when she started starring on Hanging With Mr. Cooper, people began pestering her about her weight. She was only seven years old at the time.

“At a younger age, when the conversation of weight started to come into my head, I heard it, I didn’t understand it, did what I was told, but then behind the scenes ate,” she said. “Because looking back, that was the only thing I could control. That was the only thing I had for myself. My clothes were picked, my words I was saying out of my mouth were someone else’s or practiced multiple times. Interviews, plus [being] in front of the camera–things were just really controlled because you’re in Hollywood, that’s what happens. So food was pretty much the only thing I could [control].”

“…It kind of got out of control because as I got older I could hide it. It just happened, but I look back and I’m like, I wasn’t even fat,” she added.

She also talked about how the stress of handling standard childhood issues, such as starting a new school and wanting to make friends, became impacted by the added stress of being a child star.

“Whatever stress seven-year-olds go through, in going to a new school and trying to be liked…let’s magnify that by, probably 30, on the fact of you can’t mess up in front of a live studio audience because each show costs about $1 million to make, so you just want to make sure that you don’t mess up,” The Raven’s Home star. “I’m sure those thought processes started to permeate within my body, making my stress level go up a lot more.”

Check out the full clip below.

Hanging with Mr. Cooper

Get relevant content delivered to you once a week