Sexual Abuse Caused Lake's Weight Issues.... Original Hairspray star Rikki Lake has sensationally blamed childhood sexual abuse for her weight issues.The actress-turned-talk show host ballooned to 260 pounds at her heaviest and struggled to slim down.Lake then started taking her health seriously and successfully shed over half her body weight.And she feels she wouldn't have had to battle the bulge if she hadn't been molested as a child.She says, "I was a victim of childhood sexual abuse and I think it contributed. Who knows for sure? I've done many years in therapy and worked on all my issues."I didn't talk about it for, like, 15 or 20 years; I didn't admit that it had happened to me because I wanted to kind of bury things."It, in some way, made me who I am today... I don't want to be a poster child for this at all but it's very weird thing for children when they're violated in that way."Food became a comfort to me; it was my kind of security blanket."

Speaking exclusively to U.S. news show Access Hollywood, Lake admitted she never confronted her abuser when she eventually told her parents of the abuse - but the person was "quickly removed" from her life.

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