Disney Star Christy Carlson Romano Had Breast Implants at 18 After Her Mother Told Her ‘That’s an Option’

As a child actor growing up in the early 2000s, Christy Carlson Romano felt pressure to look a certain way.

On Tuesday's episode of her Vulnerable podcast, the Even Stevens actress opened up about why her role in the Disney Channel Original Movie Cadet Kelly made her feel "ugly" and how it led to her decision to get breast implants — a move encouraged by her mom.

"I had body-image issues after Cadet Kelly," the actress — who portrayed cadet captain Jennifer Stone alongside Hilary Duff's cadet Kelly Collins — told former Cadet co-star Andrea Lewis. "I had that really tight, very rigid uniform on for Jennifer Stone ... I'm completely flat-chested. At the time I was coming of age, and coming of age in Hollywood, more importantly. My mom and me, we looked at the footage, or some s---, and she was like, 'Christy if you want to get breast implants, I want to let you know that's an option.'"

"I love my mom," she continued. "She's from a whole different generation. She was stage mom-ing that moment. What I will say is I did decide to go through with that after my 18th birthday."

Carlson Romano admitted that her and Duff's respective shows, Even Stevens and Lizzie McGuire, were in "competition with one another" — a concept that didn't help her self-esteem.

"This character made me feel really ugly," she said of her character. "She wasn't glam, and [Hilary and I] had this very juxtaposition."

After the episode dropped, fans were quick to offer words of encouragement and support.

"I related to you so much THEN, and I still do now at 33. Thank you for being so open about things like this, it's important for some of us," one use wrote on Instagram.

"This hurts my heart to hear. My 9 year old is OBSESSED with this movie, a lot like I was when I was a kid, and she always says how pretty and strong you are!" another wrote.

"Learning so much more about you each episode and not just as an actress but as someone who survived and is now creating a space for others to breathe and relate. You're wonderful!" another fan commented.

In 2021, the Kim Possible actress opened up about how her "body image issues" eventually led to an eating disorder.

"I remember drinking a lot, and I remember smoking lots of cigarettes, and I remember just not eating and waking up at, like, later parts of the day and not prioritizing my health in general," she said on her YouTube channel at the time. "It's just — I look at pictures from that time, and I just know how unhappy [I was] and how unhappy the lifestyle was for me."

The actress, who is mom to two daughters, said she turned a corner when she became pregnant for the first time.

"Once I had that weight on my body, which I hadn't had, ever, I was really loving my body," she said. "Like I was really loving the way that I felt and looked, and I felt like a woman. I had curves for the first time, and I felt good. I felt like I didn't have to make any excuses for being too thin or anything like that. I felt really good."