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Sarah Snook said she was body-shamed by a movie producer for eating a slice of chocolate cake on set after being given a personal trainer to lose weight for a role.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, published on January 14, the "Succession" star recalled the incident occurred when she landed a role that had some strings attached.
Snook said that after being cast she was asked to change her appearance to make herself "more marketable."
She said she had her teeth whitened, her naturally red hair darkened, and provided with a personal trainer before filming began so that she could "lose weight and look the part."
Snook said she agreed to the terms, believing at the time that "in order for me to be successful I have to be all the things that aren't me."
"And then one particular day, I had the tiniest bit of chocolate cake," she said, which resulted in a producer for the movie chastising her in front of the rest of the film's cast and crew.
Snook said she was "dying inside" at the producer's outburst, but a costume designer stepped in and told her to keep eating the cake.
While Snook did not name the producer, according to the interview, it occurred on "her next film" after her first major role in an Australian television movie in 2011.
Snook shared that when she got the part, the casting agent for the film had bluntly told her: "We don't really want you because you're a nobody, but the director and the writer think you're good for the role."
The actor, who has won two Golden Globe Awards for her performance as Shiv Roy in the HBO drama "Succession," said that her body image was also distorted after she received compliments after she lost weight to "realistically" play a prisoner of war in the TV movie "Sisters of War."
"I remember this guy going, 'Oh, when did you get hot?'" she said.
Snook said that she internalized the compliment to mean: "Well, I wasn't hot before. So, I must have been disgusting. Therefore, I must maintain this shape at all costs, and I'm only worthwhile as an object in the eyes of another person by being a shape that is appreciable to them."
She added: That's fucked-up so bad."