Tracey Gold is speaking candidly about a difficult period in her life.

Gold, 55, discussed her childhood acting career and her role as Carol Seaver on Growing Pains on the January 26 broadcast of Let’s Be Clear with Shannen Doherty. Despite having the “best memories of Growing Pains,” Gold admitted that her battle with anorexia, which she linked to some of the events on set, characterized her time on the show.

Gold’s role as daughter Carol in Growing Pains in 1985 was the greatest break of her career following years of working as a child actress. Their parents were Alan Thicke and Joanna Kerns, with Kirk Cameron portraying her brother Mike. Although Gold admitted to being anxious since she had “never done comedy before,” she described the “first few years” as a “great, fun experience.” “The cast was really outstanding,” she added.

But with time, the writing got increasingly “edgy.” She said to me, “Unfortunately, I believe it became at my expense during that time.” ” Mike Seaver began making fat jokes about Carol Seaver.”

“Being the best person on that set is one thing you have to know about being a child actor,” Gold told me. As a kid performer, you must get over the idea that grownups may laugh and forget your lines. You should be careful of your lines. “You remain silent and fulfill your responsibilities.”

Gold claimed she had “no voice” when the fat jokes began, but she was able to “brush it off.” However, she gained weight while on summer break from the series. She informed me that after I returned, the jokes became more vicious.’

After a while, Gold “tried to find [her voice]” and went to visit “intimidating writers.” “Can we negotiate?” she inquired. It damages my sentiments. However, because Gold was the oldest of five daughters, the authors would “tell her” that “you don’t know what this is like because you don’t have any brothers.” Brothers and sisters treat each other in this manner. They further stated that they didn’t refer to her as fat since “if it was true, we couldn’t say it.”

But Gold remained uncomfortable. “You are no longer just talking about Carol. Tracey Gold, you’re talking about me. And now I have to stand in front of people who mock me, my weight, and my appearance, which is difficult,” she explained.

The program then informed Gold’s father, who acted as her agent, that she should lose weight. She ultimately went to a doctor, who prescribed a risky 500-calorie diet.

“All of a sudden, everyone on the set came running up to me and said, ‘Oh my God, you look so wonderful, you look so wonderful,'” she told me.” “I know everyone meant well, but I was wondering whether I had ever been so embarrassing. Was I kidding myself when I thought I could play Carol Seaver on national television and be the subject of their jokes?

“Something hit me, and I was determined not to be the object of anyone’s joke again,” she told the reporter. Because of her tight commitment to the program, she was continuously “basically starving.” When her current husband and ex-boyfriend, Roby Marshall, expressed concern about her, she said, “You’re in Hollywood, and everybody just kept giving me compliments.” Carol was in difficulty after being promoted to homecoming queen; hence, the plot of Growing Pains depicted her losing weight.

She said that the set had an “element of misogyny to it,” which was one of the reasons she did not seek assistance. She was just a few years older than the “beautiful actress of the week,” whom the producers were continuously introducing and “sexualizing.”

She recalls, “It was really a boys’ club.” She did, however, state that she did not ascribe her eating condition to the writers. She said that I was the most vulnerable to it. “I believe something similar would have occurred if a cheering coach had told me the same thing while I was on the cheer squad. I would have taken a restrictive approach. Was my exaggeration the effect of being on television? Maybe: “I’ll never find out.”

“Having spent so much time as a kid actor, I’ve learned to believe that anything these producers tell me must be real. “And you listen to them because their point of view is important,” she said.

The producers ultimately told her that she needed to gain weight, but she was unable to. When Gold’s anorexia reached its peak in 1992, the producers took her to an inpatient treatment clinic and ceased production on Growing Pains. She appeared on the cover of PEOPLE in 1992, discussing her battle with eating problems.

During the podcast, she expressed how “very proud” she was to have spoken up about her anorexia in the magazine. She remembered, “My voice with the eating disorder suddenly became more powerful after that.” In 1994, a cover featured her as well.

“They told me to keep quiet and act appropriately on set,” Gold told me. “But the really big thing with the anorexia was finding my voice.” She wanted everyone to see that it is a “real disease” rather than simply “vanity.”