Ricki Lake has ranged from sizes 4 to 24, and in a new post on her iVillage blog, she says she has no regrets about the ups-and-downs, as they’ve helped her grow comfortable in her own skin.

“Weight became an issue for me early in life,” the slimmed-down mother-of-two wrote. “I haven’t made a secret about being sexually abused as a youngster, and I believe that my subsequent weight gain was a subconscious effort to make myself seemingly less attractive to the opposite sex.

“I had spark and charm to spare, though, and I leveraged my personality and drive to make things happen.”

Lake even ventures to credit the extra pounds with her early breakthroughs in show business.