A toddler star from her Children Integrated days, Hewitt was simply 15 when she actually hit it large as Scott Wolf’s on-screen girlfriend Sarah on Celebration of 5. From there, films just like the OG IKWYDLS, Cannot Hardly Wait and Heartbreakers adopted … and with these successes, got here loads of scrutiny on her physique.

Talking with Vulture for a brand new profile, Hewitt mentioned she solely not too long ago realized how a lot all that spotlight screwed her up in the long term — saying one thing clicked when she watched the Framing Britney Spears documentary.

“Once I began watching it, I used to be like, ‘Oh, they talked to me like that. Oh.’ I began crying for her. After which I spotted I used to be crying for me,” she advised the outlet.

Saying it was “simply, ‘Boob, boob, boob,’ in every single place” each time she was talked about within the press again within the day, Hewitt mentioned she “actually needed to be a superb actor” and located herself consistently “attempting to outact the dialog round my physique.”

That dialog reached report highs in 2007, after paparazzi snapped images of her in a bikini in Hawaii, which led to media protection about her weight. She hit again onerous on the time, saying she wasn’t “upset for me, however for all the women on the market which might be fighting their physique picture.”

“A dimension 2 just isn’t fats! Nor will it ever be. And being a dimension 0 does not make you lovely,” she added. “To all women with butts, boobs, hips and a waist, placed on a bikini – put it on and keep sturdy.”

PEOPLE Journal then ran the images on a canopy, with the headline, “Cease Calling Me Fats!”

“I do not assume I used to be ever actually insecure till that cowl. After which when it occurred, I do not know that I’ve ever recovered from it,” she advised Vulture. “As a result of there’s part of me that is at all times like, Is that this model going to be adequate, or is that going to occur once more? The place someone’s going to be like, ‘Hey, that is her with out make-up on the cleaners. She appears 59.’”

As for why that harm a lot, she added, “As a result of that was me. I feel that is why the insecurity carried on. I do not know if I’ve even ever put that collectively for myself aside from proper now … I feel I used to be like, Oh my God, I used to be myself one time, and that is what occurred.“

Hewitt mentioned her late mom helped calm her down on the time, by telling her, “You do not get it. You may’t win. That is simply individuals having an issue with the model of you they assume belongs to them. Take your energy again. Belong to your self, and don’t fret about it.”

She added that rocking t-shirts and a blazer within the new IWKYDLS — during which she reprises her position as Julie James — was “very therapeutic” for her as a result of “no person’s going to be speaking about my boobs.” She then quipped, “Oh, you need me to flash you? They’re down right here.”

I Know What You Did Final Summer time is in theaters now.