Daniella Monet recalls dropping down to 70 LBS at age 16 (2024)

Victorious star Daniella Monet has recalled her 'painful' teen years, which saw her dropping down to just 70lbs at 16 years old while suffering from IBS.

The 35-year-old Nickelodeon alum was thrusted into the spotlight after being cast as eccentric and fan-favorite character Trina Vega, and spent her time working alongside stars like Ariana Grande, Victoria Justice andElizabeth Gillies.

The mom-of-two - who tied the knot to Andrew Garner in 2022 - grew up in the limelight and got her big break after appearing on the CBS sitcom Listen Up.

However, behind the glitz and the glam, Daniella was battling a severe case of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which is a disease that affects the gastrointestinal tract, that left her struggling to keep food down, ultimately causing her to drop to a worrisome weight.

While rubbing shoulders with Hollywood heavyweights, Daniella was always in 'pain,' in her 'head', and had dropped to 70lbs - with her wardrobe team questioning why she had to don 'Abercrombie kids sizes.'

Daniella lifted the lid on her terrifying teen life while speaking to Taylor Lautner and his wife, Taylor, on a new episode of their podcast, The Squeeze.

She revealed that she went to see a doctor after she had trouble digesting her food and was 'constipated.'

The actress said: 'I was having problems with my stomach and digesting food.'

While there, she was diagnosed with IBS, placed on multiple laxatives and given prescription medicine, all of which she admitted 'destroyed her.'

The Nickelodeon alum now explained that she believed her symptoms were a cause of stress and overwhelming emotions as she was transitioning into the spotlight during that time.

'Now I can look back and say, well, that seems like there's quite a bit of environmental stuff that was happening,' she said.

'[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."'

However, instead of taking a holistic approach, doctors put her on 'all these meds.'

These medications caused the actress to struggle with keeping food down.

She admitted: 'I would eat food and it would literally come right out of me.'

Because she wasn't digesting any food, her weight plummeted while she was on the CBS sitcom, which ran in 2004.

The actress said: 'It was so uncomfortable. I was always in pain, I always in my head. I remember I was on my show and wardrobe said, "You're dropping all this weight and you're in Abercrombie kids sizes."

'They were letting the hem out of the jeans to make them longer because I had no waist.'

She admitted that her drastic weight loss made her lose her period for five years - adding that she didn't have it from the age of 15 to 20.

The star said: '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?"'

And while the actress admitted she felt 'pressured' to look a certain way, her weight loss was due to the medication she was on.

She added that after her difficult journey, she decided to own her health and learn about holistic measures, which helped her gain weight.

She said: '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.'

Now, the actress is feeling the best she ever has and frequently tells her two young children about the importance of tending to your body.

She added: 'Your body is amazing, and your body keeps the score, and my body did just that. It had to do what it had to do to get to a point where I felt my best again, but it doesn't happen overnight.'

Daniella starred in Listen Up when she was 16 and then went on to be one of the faces in the hit show Victorious, which aired in 2010 when Daniella was 19.

Nickelodeon has been under fierce scrutiny in the past year after HBO laid bare the chilling allegations of abuse taking place.

The HBO documentary Quiet on Set: the Dark Side of Kids TV also detailed the conviction of former Nickelodeon dialogue coach and actor Brian Peck, who child star Drake Bell accused of molesting him when he was 15.

In a response to the documentary, former showrunner Dan Schneider said he regretted some of his harsh treatment of staff at Nickelodeon and behavior including accepting massages from young cast members, but added that all shows were signed off by multiple adults.

Dan, 58, began working at Nickelodeon in 1993 as an executive producer when the channel was 'pushing the boundaries of kids entertainment.'

He is said to have 'launched the careers of child actors who became major stars' including Miranda Cosgrove, Jamie Lynn Spears and Ariana Grande - but the reality of the studio was a far cry from the carefree happenings that were mesmerizing kids onscreen.

He has since been flooded with allegations of 'degrading' staff, creating inappropriate sketches and fostering a toxic work environment - many of which were divulged in the Quiet On Set documentary.

A Nickelodeon spokesperson previously told DailyMail.com: 'Though we cannot corroborate or negate allegations of behaviors from productions decades ago, Nickelodeon as a matter of policy investigates all formal complaints as part of our commitment to fostering a safe and professional workplace environment free of harassment or other kinds of inappropriate conduct.'

While speaking to Taylor, Daniella revealed that she hadn't seen the documentary and didn't comment about the allegations.