Daniella Monet Was 'Down to Abercrombie Kid Sizes' As A Teen
By Kelly Coffey-Behrens on July 11, 2024 at 1:45 PM EDT
Former Nickelodeon star Daniella Monet is letting down her walls and opening up about her teenage years.
The actress, who is best known for her role in "Victorious" alongside Victoria Justice and Ariana Grande, reflected on the struggles of dealing with irritable bowel syndrome when she was a teen.
Daniella Monet even admitted that she was "down to Abercrombie kid sizes" at the time.
The Former Nickelodeon Star Says She Struggles With IBS
When chatting on Taylor Lautner and his wife Taylor's podcast, "The Squeeze," Daniella Monet recounted her teenage battle with irritable bowel syndrome. She opened up about her journey, going as far as mentioning she had to seek professional help after she "was having problems with my stomach and digesting food.”
The former Nickelodeon actress ended up on medication that unintentionally caused her to shed a significant amount of weight. “I dropped so much weight from being on all these meds” that she stopped having her period for nearly five years.
“Imagine you would eat food,” and it would “come right out of me. "And it was so uncomfortable. I was always in pain.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, IBS is a chronic condition that affects the stomach and intestines and causes "cramping, abdominal pain, bloating, gas, and diarrhea or constipation.”
Weight Loss Led To Conversations With Nickelodeon Wardrobe Department
Due to the medications and her IBS struggles, Monet dropped clothing sizes, raising concerns.
“You're dropping all these sizes. You're down to, like, Abercrombie kid sizes, and they're letting the hem out of the jeans to make them longer because I had no waist," she recalled of the time she was starring on "Zoey 101." “I was literally at my lowest, maybe, like, high 70 lbs. at 16 years old."
“I was so, so thin, and everyone was trying to look at me and say, like, ‘Is she throwing up? Is she anorexic?" she said on the podcast, adding that it seemed everyone ignored the fact that she was on medication. “Sure, there was a lot of these pressures all around me, but you can't ignore the part about all these new meds being in me," she said.
Daniella Monet Struggled With Mental And Physical Health
In addition to her struggles with IBS, Daniella Monet says she also faced challenges that affected both her mental and physical health, including her parents' separation and a two-hour commute to a studio for work.
“Now I can look back and say, well, that seems like there's quite a bit of environmental stuff that was happening,” Monet explained.
At the time, her doctors “weren't saying, like, ‘Oh, she might be stressed. Maybe she's not sleeping enough. Maybe she's not drinking enough water. Maybe she's not getting the best nutrition. Like, maybe she's not having time to move her body properly.'"
Taking Control Of Her Health
Monet later said that she felt compelled to take control of her health, opting for a "holistic wellness" approach to manage her IBS, which ultimately helped her regain weight.
“Let me tell you, going from that weight to about 130 lbs. in a very short period of time was a ride — mentally, physically, emotionally," she continued.
Reflecting On 'Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Kids TV'
Earlier this year, MAX's docuseries, "Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Kids TV," took the world by storm as several former child actors, like Drake Bell, participated in the project to shed light on their experiences working under the direction of Dan Schneider and other producers at Nickelodeon.
Schneider, known for his involvement in shows like "All That," "The Amanda Show," and "Zoey 101," has been the subject of allegations and controversies regarding his conduct on set, including accusations of inappropriate behavior towards underage actors, creating a toxic workplace environment, and instances of racism and sexism.
While many actors admitted to watching the docuseries, Daniella Monet told People, "I never watched it. I probably won't," adding that her experience working for the network wasn't the same as what was told in the project.
"The good thing about my journey with Nickelodeon is I was a little older," Monet said. "I was an adult and I'd also grown up in the industry whereas like most of my cast, except for Victoria [Justice] of course, like they were kind of green."