'Orange Is the New Black' Star Says Mom Taught Her to Be Bulimic

"Orange Is the New Black" star Laura Prepon reveals in her new book that she battled an eating disorder and shockingly admits that her mother taught her how to be bulimic — and that became their "shared secret."

The 40-year-old actress recalled the experience in an interview with People published Wednesday and in an excerpt from her new book, "You & I, as Mothers," which was obtained by the news outlet.

It all began when Prepon was 15 years old. She was a healthy and athletic teen but was told by a modeling agency during an open casting to lose 25 pounds. She wanted to lose the weight and it became a "shared project" with her mother, Marjorie.

"My mom started weighing me every morning and taking my measurements," said Prepon. As the weight began to drop, Prepon felt like she was making her mom "proud." Then, shockingly, Marjorie started encouraging bulimia as a weight-loss method.

"That's when she told me, 'You can have your cake and eat it too,'" Prepon recalled. "I knew exactly what she was talking about."

The actress said their "shared secret" became "a bonding thing we would do together." Marjorie suffered from bulimia in college and fell into the mindset that "being this equaled success," Prepon said. "I think she was trying to help me in her own way."

For several years, Prepon grappled with bulimia. She described it as a "compulsion" that would "completely debilitate me," but eventually she was able to shift her mindset to one of self-acceptance. Watching her mother progress into the advanced stages of Alzheimer's further spurred her on.

"Seeing her lose her sense of self was shattering. It put me in confrontation with our past and began the path to recovery," Prepon said. "Healing meant learning about my own body."

Prepon also reveals in the book that she terminated her second pregnancy when doctors told her that the fetus had a rare condition and its brain and bones weren't growing. "I felt like a failure," she told People. "I felt like my body had failed."

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