Lauren Young brushes off criticisms over her weight: 'I have never been happier'

Brushing off all the negative criticism being thrown at her for gaining weight, Lauren Young declares that she's "never been happier."

During a conversation with fellow Kapuso actors on GMA Artist Center's "Are You Okay: Womanhood," host Ana Feleo brought up the topic of weight and how it can affect actors when it comes to getting jobs.

Lauren opened up, saying "That's happened to me in the past five years."

"I used to be very, very skinny. I used to be very, very fit, and I gained a lot of weight in the past few years," she added.

The actress, however, emphasized that gaining weight was "more than just a physical thing."

"What people don't understand is that, even though I may not be the skinniest girl in town, I have never been happier. Because when I was skinny, I was miserable. Because, you know, I was tired. It's hard to be skinny!" she added.

Lauren shared how gaining weight helped realize how she could be valued more for her abilities as an actress, rather than her looks.

"I thought I was only valued for how I looked. And then, when I gained weight, and I saw that I was still valued because of my talent and because of the things that I'm capable of," she said.

Moreover, Lauren is proud to represent girls who look like her.

"I don't wanna lose the weight, because I'm proud to say that I'm a girl on TV who represents the majority of how people look like and thats something that I don't wanna take back," she said.

"And at the end of the day, regardless of how I look like, I will give you the performance of a lifetime. I wouldnt' be here if I wasn't a good actor," she added.

Weight discrimination

Joining Lauren in GMA Artist Center's "How Do You Feel" discussion were her fellow Kapuso actors Chynna Ortaleza, Andrea Torres, Mikee Quintos, Janine Gutierrez, Thia Thomalla, Athena Madrid, and Cai Cortez.

After hearing about Lauren's struggles, Chynna opened up about experiencing the same kind of discrimination for being "stick thin."

"I totally agree with Lauren because, on the opposite side of the spectrum, I am the type of person who has been stick thin all her life, and has also been judged by the fact that I've been stick thin, to the point that early on in my career I was really thinking if I should go that route," Chynna said.

The actress shared there have even been others with her body type who have even been labelled as anorexic or bulemic.

To help prevent them from falling victim to the same kind of discrimination, Janine Gutierrez shared a piece of advice to some of the younger actresses.

"I guess sometimes it just happens na you don't realize until a while after na, 'Wait lang, parang hindi pala dapat ganun 'yung pangyayari,' because us when we're doing movies, when we're doing shows, the director always asks, na 'Oh, this is what we're gonna do, are you ok with this?'," Janine said

"I hope for the newer ones, for Rere and for Thia, na, if you ever feel the slightest sense of being uncomfortable, even if kaya mo 'yung eksena, call someone first," she added.

"Kasi lahat naman tayo matapang naman na uy im game or whatever — there has to be a line," Janine said.

—Margaret Claire Layug/JBC, GMA News