Christina Ricci opted for a strict diet and a strenuous Pilates regime when she first learned she'd have to strip down to a bikini for an upcoming episode of her new TV show PAN AM.
The former child star, who has battled eating disorders in the past, wasn't about to let TV viewers see her with her clothes off if she didn't look toned.
She tells Nylon magazine, "We all have to be in bikinis in the second episode (and) some of the girls are like, 'I'm not dieting, screw it!' And I'm, like, totally dieting; I'm eating protein and vegetables and I'm doing my Pilates exercises at night, when I'm watching television.
"My Pilates instructor wrote out three different routines for me. I've worked out, 'OK, this one I can do in my dressing room, and this one in the studio at lunch...'"
But she insists her latest weightloss battle is in no way related to her well-publicised anorexia struggles when she was a teen.
The 31 year old adds, "I'm not going to punish myself because I don't look like the average person in a bikini... I would actually live on pasta if I could."
Ricci had another problem with the bikini scenes - back acne.
She tells the magazine, "I use (acne cream) Proactiv because the lovely thing about my face now that I'm in my early 30s, I'm ageing, but I'm also dealing with acne, and now - this is disgusting - but I get it on my back.
"I'm like, 'What am I? A pubescent boy?'"
Tagged in Christina Ricci