Molly Sims Was Considered Too Fat to Model in Heroin Chic’ Era (Exclusive) [Video]

When Molly Sims recently opened up on a podcast about being considered ‘too fat’ to model in the ’90s, she never expected the comment to go viral.

“I was just being honest about the stress I was under during that time in the business, and the expectations put on me,” the YSE beauty founder explains to PEOPLE. “I wasn’t prepared as a young girl to go through that,” she says of chasing an unnatural level of thinness.

“I started right at the moment, the height of ‘heroin chic,'” she continues. “It was Kate Moss in her Calvin Klein ads. I had never really focused on [being that skinny] before, so that mindset was really hard for me.” She adds, “I tortured myself. I would try so incredibly hard.”

Sims, who grew up in Murray, Kentucky, got into the modeling industry while studying pre-law at Vanderbilt …