The Skinny on Melissa's New Love

Puckering up to Jennifer Aniston in girlfriend Melissa Etheridge's new "I Want to Be in Love" music video, former Popular tart Tammy Lynn Michaels looks every inch the lean, mean kissing machine. But despite her timeless, hourglass figure, the voluptuous vixen once was told that she was becoming not a big star, but rather a large one.

"When I first booked Popular, I was very sick with a stomach condition, and I was underweight," she tells TV Guide Online. "After I started taking medication, I was able to put weight back on, and someone that I worked with said that I had a weight problem and had to make it a priority to lose weight.

"This person proceeded to tell me how unattractive my upper arms were... and my hips... and my thighs," she continues. "It killed me. I was so shocked and hurt, and I was really scared, because I don't want to be a skeleton. I don't find that attractive on me."

The heavy-hitter's Popular employers were quick to reassure her that she would never be shipped out because of her shape. "They were like, 'Eat what you want! Stuff yourself with jelly doughnuts! We don't care!'" she recalls.

Yet, to this day, having been dissed by the lollipop league of waifish women weighs heavily on the curvaceous up-and-comer. "I'd rather join another competition than 'Who's the skinniest?'" she sniffs. "You can be the skinniest, and everybody can tell you that you look fabulous, but you're probably also the sickest."