Like many other women in the spotlight, Lake's weight has often been a topic of discussion. She explained that originally, she started to gain weight after enduring the sexual abuse she experienced as a child. "I think it's part of why I was overweight a lot of my teenage years and early adult life," she explained. "I think I didn't want to be attractive to men" (via OWN). 

While her weight gain may have been the result of a traumatic experience, Lake shared that she became famous at a larger size, and was a role model for a lot of girls. "Being fat worked," she continued. "And I think that was what was confusing for me for a long time in my career."

While many would claim that having children caused them to gain weight, Lake believes it was the opposite in her case; she explained that having children helped her heal as a victim of sexual abuse — and that in turn helped her shed the extra weight. After having two sons with now ex, Rob Sussman, Lake described how easy it was for her to lose weight. "Well, it definitely didn't fall off, but it was the easiest time I'd ever tried," she shared. "I don't know how to explain it other than it just felt like this purging of that pain and trauma from the past," (via Today).