Well, at least somebody from the cast of "Ally McBeal" admits to having body-image problems. Courtney Thorne-Smith, who grew alarmingly thin during the series' second season, says she dieted and exercised until she made herself ill to keep up with her scrawny co-stars.

"I'd spent the last eight years on two TV series being photographed next to extraordinarily petite female leads - first on 'Melrose Place' and then on 'Ally McBeal,' " Thorne-Smith tells next month's Self magazine. "There were only so many times strangers on the street could say to me, 'Oh, my God, you are so much smaller in person! You just look much bigger on TV!' before I became obsessed with getting thinner. And I did."

Thorne-Smith radically reduced her food intake and ran miles a day. She lost weight, but was always tired and sick, she says.

"The only people who were impressed by the new me were fashion stylists - who love to dress people with bodies that don't interfere with clothes - and women who had their own issues with food," she recalled. "My body was capable of little more than sitting on the couch, waiting to be admired for being thin."

She was upset to find herself named in "articles about actresses who were becoming too thin," and began consulting with a therapist and a nutritionist. Thorne-Smith has since returned to her healthier diet and exercise regimens, and to her old size.

"I feel more vulnerable to criticism" having to wear something larger than a size 0, Thorne-Smith admits. "But at the same time, I feel proud setting my own standards instead of manipulating my body to fit into someone else's idea of what is acceptable."