Sasha Pieterse is speaking out about the "really hard" two years of her life, during which she was bullied over her weight.
The 22-year-old Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists star opens up about being diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in a new video for the bullying prevention campaign #ChooseKindness. "I think everybody has been bullied to some degree," Sasha says. "With social media, it makes it really accessible and makes it much easier to hide behind a computer screen."
"I went through something where I gained a lot of weight," she continues. "I gained 75 pounds in about two years, and I couldn't figure out why. I'm healthy, I exercise and I always try to do my best and feel my best. But I had something called PCOS, and it's polycystic ovary disease. I didn't know that's what was happening to me, so during that time when I was trying to figure it out on my own, it was publicized and I was on a TV show so it was documented every week."
"As an actress, I have an amazing life," Sasha goes on to say. "But one of the hardest parts about what we do for a living is that, I think people think they know you and they also feel comfortable telling you how they feel, even when it's offensive and not appropriate."
"And that was a really hard two years of my life," she shares. "But, the good thing is, I got through it, I came out on the other side, and a huge part of that is because I have such an amazing support system. My friends and my family and my husband are amazing and I don't know, it would've been really hard to do it without them."
Back in May, Sasha and beau Hudson Sheaffer tied the knot at a castle in Ireland.
Watch above to see Sasha talk about her experience in the public eye, in support of Bullying Prevention Month and Disney ABC Television Group's bullying prevention campaign #ChooseKindness.