Scary Skinny: The Dark Side of Childhood Fame

April 4, 2007 — -- Many celebrities struggle with looking perfect, but perhaps none are as vulnerable as child actresses.

Recently, Maureen McCormick, who played Marcia Brady on the "The Brady Bunch," came clean about her battle with bulimia.

The character of Marcia Brady was the envy of her younger sister and an entire generation of American girls, but McCormick says life after the sitcom was anything but that.

"I did drugs after the show and I had bulimia," McCormick told "Good Morning America." "Those were the things I was hiding."

McCormick is just the latest celebrity to open up about her struggles with body image as a young star.

"You're always out there, and that's really tough," she said. "And when you're growing up, it's even tougher when you're growing up in front of cameras," she said.

That lifestyle is a delicate and painful balancing act for young Hollywood. For some, eating disorders come with the territory.

Actress Tracy Gold has been open about her anorexia, which flared up when her weight gain became part of the script on "Growing Pains."

"I looked in the mirror and I didn't have any clothes on and I was scared," Gold said of the ordeal.

Mary Kate Olsen sought treatment after becoming dangerously thin.

Ashlee Simpson and Jamie-Lynn Sigler of "The Sopranos" have also admitted to eating disorders.

A slimmed-down Hillary Duff recently told People Magazine, "I definitely felt the pressure to be Hollywood thin."

McCormick sees that pressure even more now than when she was on "The Brady Bunch."

"It's a lot harder today than it was when I was growing up because I think first of all there is a lot more media," she said. "You've got a lot more paparazzi."

Actress Scarlett Pomers knows that pressure all too well. At 16, she was asked to leave the hit show "Reba" to get help for her anorexia.

"Even though I knew I had a problem and it was really serious and eventually I could have died, it's something that just grips you so hard in your mind you can't let go," Pomers said.