Gabourey Sidibe reveals weight-loss surgery, secret past as a phone sex operator

A precious new lease on life.

Gabourey Sidibe, who starred in 2009's Oscar-nominated film Precious, has opened up about her weight-loss surgery – and R-rated past profession.

The 33-year-old actress told People that she underwent laproscopic bariatric surgery last May after she was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.

"I truly didn't want to worry about all the effects that go along with diabetes," the Empire star said. "I genuinely [would] worry all the time about losing my toes."

Gabourey, who struggled with bulimia in college, tried to lose weight naturally for more than a decade before opting for the surgery.

"I always wanted to throw up because I was so sad," the New York City native told Nylon of her college days, adding that she also struggling with panic attacks and depression. "I really liked challenging myself to not eat for three days," she says. "Sometimes I would eat a slice of bread and drink a bottle of water just to throw it up."

And she's now altered her eating habits and fitness regime to keep the weight off.

"My surgeon said they'd cut my stomach in half. This would limit my hunger and capacity to eat. My brain chemistry would change and I'd want to eat healthier," she writes in her upcoming memoir, This Is Just My Face. "I'll take it! My lifelong relationship with food had to change."

But Gabourey says her physical change has no bearing on her confidence.

"I know I'm beautiful in my current face and my current body. What I don't know about is the next body," she writes in her memoir. "If I could lose enough to just be a little chubby, I'll be over the moon! Will I still be beautiful then? S—. Probably. My beauty doesn't come from a mirror. It never will.

"There's nothing ugly about me. Anyone trying to convince me that I am — and it's usually me — is wasting her time," she says. "I was in a war with my body for a long time. If I'd started treating it better sooner, I wouldn't have spent so many years hating myself. But I love my body now."

In her Nylon interview, Gabourey also revealed that, before making her acting debut in Precious, she worked as a phone sex operator for three years, and told the magazine she always accidentally "turns on her sex voice when she orders room service".