Actress Tracey Gold, who starred as Carol Seaver on "Growing Pains," talks about her extreme eating disorder accelerated by fat jokes made on the show, and how her TV mom advocated for her health.

Gold was a guest host on the late Shannen Doherty's podcast. Tracey Gold is looking back on some of her tougher times on the set of Growing Pains. Gold explained Monday how the show's writing hurt her to the point that she suffered from eating disorders,

Growing Pains’ star Tracey Gold opened up about her role as Carol Seaver and the ‘fat jokes’ that left a lasting impact

While guest hosting the late Shannen Doherty ‘s Let’s Be Clear podcast, Gold explained that she began feeling increasingly powerless on the show as her character, Carol Seavers, was often the subject of several jokes, especially from her on-screen brothers Mike ( Kirk Cameron) and Ben ( Jeremy Miller ).

Tracey Gold is getting candid about the body image struggles she experienced on the set of Growing Pains. Gold, who was a teenager when she was cast as Carol Seaver on the ABC sitcom in 1985, opened up in a new episode of Let's Be Clear with Shannen Doherty about her time on Growing Pains and the anorexia battle she was fighting behind the scenes.