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.

So when the fat jokes started, Gold said she had “no voice,” but she was able to “brush it off.” But during one summer break from the series, she gained weight. “And the ...

Related: Alan Thicke dead: Tracey Gold remembers Growing Pains dad But Carol, as she saw it, was her. And she'd have to stand in front of a live studio audience and have those things said to her.

When her character became the butt of fat jokes and producers asked her to lose weight, she went on a highly restrictive diet, she says Gold ended up going to inpatient treatment for her eating ...

The cast, she said, was “lightning in the bottle.” ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Kirk Cameron (left) and Tracey Gold in 'Growing Pains' in 1985 But over time, the ...