Julia Stiles struggled with 'disordered' eating
The 44-year-old actress has revealed she felt under pressure to fit into sample sizes from designers on the red carpet so her diet became "restrictive, regimented" and "stressful".
During an appearance on the 'How to Fail with Elizabeth Day' podcast, she explained: "I'm not talking about an eating disorder - it was just restrictive, regimented, stressful.
"I always worried that it was going to be out of my control. Like, what if I gain weight? I couldn't help but have a disordered relationship with it all ...
"There was stress around what your body looks like and trying to mold your body into a certain size. As an actress, we go and promote on a red carpet, and we have to wear sample sizes from fashion designers. So it's always: 'Are we going to fit into the sample size?"'
However, Julia has revealed becoming a mother to three children - Strummer, Arlo and Henry - with her husband Preston Cook helped her understand that obsessing over her weight was a "waste of f****** time".
She added: "I've moved on. I've learned to be kinder in the way I think about my body and look at my body - to be kinder to myself but also trust your body ...
"I would be running on fumes, like, no sleep having just had a five-month-old baby. I didn't have time to think about, am I going to get back in shape to fit into those sample sizes?"
During the interview, Julia also praised her 'Mona Lisa Smile' co-star Julia Roberts with helping the young women in the cast treat themselves with more kindness.
She explained: "She was an amazing example for us, and she was so maternal with all the young women on that set. She was coming from a lot of experience of being not just a woman, but also a woman where your appearance is focused on so heavily.
"[She] said to us: 'You're going to look back on these photos of you in your 20s and be like, I was beautiful - why didn't I see that?'
"And she's totally right."
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