Amber Tamblyn recalls time she was told by movie execs to lose weight or end up a 'character actress'

By Dailymail.com Reporter

Published: 16:20 EDT, 27 June 2018 | Updated: 03:52 EDT, 28 June 2018

Amber Tamblyn has opened up about the pressure she's felt over the years to fit the Hollywood standard of beauty.

The 35-year-old actress was promoting her debut novel Any Man on Tuesday when she recalled a movie exec's request for her to lose weight around the time of the success of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

Talking to New York Times journalist Jodi Kantor during a book event in New York, Amber remembered: 'I think at that point I was 128 pounds and I'm 5-7.

'I remember my agent saying to me and she was a woman, "You have a real choice here. You can either be Nicole Kidman or you can be a character actress,"' 

'It does something to you': Amber Tamblyn has opened up about being told to lose weight by movies execs when she was in her 20s

'It does something to you': Amber Tamblyn has opened up about being told to lose weight by movies execs when she was in her 20s

The Two and a Half Men star continued, 'And at that time, I was like 21 years old, so if you look at that and use that as an example and imagine that for over two decades, forms of that from when you're a child to all the way up, it does something to you.' 

Amber starred in 2005's The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and its sequel in 2008 opposite Blake Lively, Alexis Bledel and America Ferrera.

Amber said the issue of her weight was just one of the violating experiences she has faced in her career.

'They were always different forms of being shut out of conversations or being boxed out of different places in which I know my voice should exist or being told under certain circumstances I had to look a certain way or I was going to fail,' she told Kantor.

The 35-year-old actress recalled being told by her agent 'You have a real choice here. You can either be Nicole Kidman or you can be a character actress,'. Amber is pictured in the 2005 film Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

The 35-year-old actress recalled being told by her agent 'You have a real choice here. You can either be Nicole Kidman or you can be a character actress,'. Amber is pictured in the 2005 film Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

'I think at that point I was 128 pounds and I'm 5-7' Amber said of the time she was asked to lose weight. She is pictured in 2009 

'I think at that point I was 128 pounds and I'm 5-7' Amber said of the time she was asked to lose weight. She is pictured in 2009 

In January Amber wrote a New York Times op-ed in which she discussed being asked by a director to lose five pounds before a movie shoot.

'He said the film studio would provide a trainer and a meal plan for me,' she wrote. 'I was 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighed just 120 pounds. I remember this number precisely because five pounds lighter would make me 115 pounds, which is the number I ended up achieving after I spent two weeks eating only the deli meat off Subway sandwiches and skipping dinners altogether.'

Amber is promoting her new book which has raised some eyebrows being a tale about a female rapist and her male victims who narrate their experiences throughout the story.

Amber starred in 2005's The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and its sequel in 2008 with Blake Lively, Alexis Bledel and America Ferrera

Amber starred in 2005's The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and its sequel in 2008 with Blake Lively, Alexis Bledel and America Ferrera

'Violating experiences': In January Amber wrote a New York Times op-ed in which she discussed being asked by a director to lose five pounds before a movie shoot

'Violating experiences': In January Amber wrote a New York Times op-ed in which she discussed being asked by a director to lose five pounds before a movie shoot

She told the Washington Post that the unexpected twist to her story was a way of exploring 'a female antagonist who was truly ugly in the worst possible sense and who was predatory and had no consequences' much like predatory men who often avoid the consequences of their actions.

Amber is one of the Time's Up initiative's founding members - which aims to combat systemic gender inequality and harassment in the workplace across industries.

The organization has a Legal Defense Fund to help individuals hold wrongdoers accountable. 

The actress revealed the fund has helped assign 300 cases of workplace harassment to attorneys.

Out and about: Amber was pictured out in New York on Wednesday as she visited The View

Out and about: Amber was pictured out in New York on Wednesday as she visited The View

Amber, pictured Monday, is currently promoting her debut novel Any Man, which is about a female rapist

Amber, pictured Monday, is currently promoting her debut novel Any Man, which is about a female rapist

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Amber Tamblyn recalls she was told by movie execs to lose weight

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