Kerry Washington credits playing a transgender woman in new film LIFE IS HOT IN CRACKTOWN with ending her battle to stay slim in size zero-obsessed Hollywood.
The actress stars as drug-addicted prostitute Marybeth in the upcoming crime drama, based on a collection of short stories by Buddy Giovinazzo.
And Washington has given up dieting and spending hours in the gym since realising many young women would be desperate to have her curves.
She says, "The thing I learned about being a transwoman is you're not a guy trying to be a woman, you're a woman who's body has in some way betrayed you.
"I learned to embrace my curves because if I wasn't born with these curves - if I had gotten these curves from a doctor the way a lot of people do - then I would really celebrate (having) them more. So instead of going to a gym to get rid of the curves, I had to really embrace my femininity."