'Orange Is the New Black' Season 4: Laura Prepon Discusses Being Told She Needs To 'Lose Weight'

Orange Is the New Black star Laura Prepon has had to deal with the pressures of staying skinny for decades.

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Prepon, who plays Alex Vause on Orange Is the New Black, spoke with The Hollywood Social Lounge recently about her various health battles and the pressure to be thin in Hollywood.

"When I was a child I lived in Europe but when I came back from Europe I really started developing all of these kind of autoimmune things," she explained. "I developed this thing called Hashimoto syndrome, celiac's disease, I was highly allergic to dairy and wheat. I would have an adverse effect to it. I was always inflamed, I had no energy I wasn't assimilating nutrients, I was always hungry. And I went on this constant, basically 15-year journey."

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She spoke of going to various doctors over the years and getting put on all sorts of pills and supplements, all while she was in the public eye.

"So I would have this pressure of being on camera and I had the best job in the world and I'm literally living my dream and I was stressed out every day about my weight and I would go to different fittings and leave in tears because the stylist is like 'you don't fit into these clothes, this is what we have, I don't know really know what to do, you need to lose weight.' I would literally leave crying. At a young age I was told I had to lose 30 pounds, and this is like a pressure in our industry."

Orange Is the New Black has celebrated women of all shapes and sizes since its inception in 2013. The show has often been praised for its diversity and willingness to show all types of women.

Orange Is the New Black season 4 is scheduled for release on Friday, June 17 on Netflix.