Rosie Huntington-Whiteley may be a Victoria’s Secret Angel and Maxim magazine’s ‘Hottest Woman on Earth,’ not to mention Megan Fox’s Transformers 3 replacement, but the physique that propelled her to sex-symbol stardom wasn’t easy to achieve — or without some compromises.

The Transformers: Dark of the Moon actress said in an interview with Elle magazine that, while she has never had body image issues, she was “hurt” by the notion that she needed to lose weight.

“When I started modeling, I was definitely heavier. I was quite voluptuous in fact. I had a real baby face and baby fat. But I was a baby! I was told I had to get into better shape, but I’m quite stubborn so I didn’t,” she explained.

“I can’t remember a time where I really battled with my body,” she said, “but I can remember being asked to lose weight and battling with the advice. It hurt me. Especially as my baby fat naturally melted away as I got older … You can bullied as a young model, but there was a point where I found my voice, effectively.”

Huntington-Whiteley has stated that facing difficulties before achieving success in her acting profession “puts things in perspective”

This summer, the actress will make her big screen debut in Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon, in which she will play Carly Miller.