Swimsuit Model Brooklyn Decker's Body Issues

Jan. 21, 2011— -- She may have graced the cover of Sports Illustrated's illustrious swimsuit issue, but model-turned-actress Brooklyn Decker hasn't always been happy about her body.

The 23-year-old star of "Just Go With It," the new Adam Sandler comedy also starring Jennifer Aniston and Nicole Kidman, tells Self magazine that she went through a period of insecurity as a pre-adolescent and later succumbed to "crazy diets" when she started out as a model.

"When I was younger, I was insecure about being gangly and having no shape," Decker tells the current issue of Self. "People made fun of me and called me a boy. I remember praying for boobs and a butt."

"Luckily, I grew into myself and got curves, but when I was first modeling, I wished for that boyish 'Gisele' body again!" she said, referring to model Gisele Bundchen.

To try to achieve it, Decker reveals she went to extreme measures.

"When I moved to New York, I was always with other aspiring models. There were bingers and purgers, and everyone watched each other eat. It freaked me out," she said. "I did juice fasts and crazy diets and ended up gaining weight."

Ultimately, she said, "my father did an intervention and got me to stop obsessing about everyone else and wrecking my body."

Ironically, it was Decker's co-star, Aniston, who was reportedly having body issues last year during the filming of "Just Go With It."

Reports surfaced that the 41-year-old former "Friends" star flew her personal trainer, Mandy Ingber, to the Hawaiian set after seeing Decker. But Aniston's spokesman, Stephen Huvane, dismissed the reports.

"Jennifer has a trainer she works with all year round and has not specifically flown [him] in to Hawaii after seeing Brooklyn Decker," he told ABCNews.com. "That's just plain silly."

Nowadays, Decker just focuses on loving food.

"If it were legal, I'd marry a Sour Patch Kid," she said of the candy. "Eating is more fulfilling if you talk about what you should eat, rather than what you shouldn't."

"Instead of worrying about what foods might have too much fat or sugar, think, 'Oh, I should eat these blueberries for the antioxidants,'" she added.

How Does Brooklyn Decker Do It?

Decker's videos feature 25-minute regimens based on yoga, cardio and sculpting. She told Us Weekly magazine last February that she relies on mixing up her routine for maximum results.

"Yoga's probably the thing I held onto most because I noticed it really enhanced my other workouts because I work out like an athlete," she said. "I go for long runs or spin classes and I do weights, which I think a lot of women are scared of. I think it's so important to do weights, because they don't make you bigger, they make you more lean and toned and all that good stuff."

It probably helps that Decker's husband, tennis pro Andy Roddick, whom she married in 2009, makes physical activity a priority as well. But she's not about to hit the court with her man, who can serve a ball at 155 miles an hour.

"That," she told The New York Times last year, pointing at her face, "puts my job at risk."

More and more often her job is on the big screen, though Decker tells the current issue of Esquire that she is reluctant to call herself an actress.

"Well, come on. How cheesy does that sound? I can't say 'actress' unless someone says I'm halfway decent at it."

But she did pick up some tips on the set. "Nicole Kidman taught me how to look into the sun while shooting," she said.