EXCLUSIVE: Tia Mowry on 'Awkward' 'Sister, Sister' Years and the Diet She Says Changed Her Life
Tia Mowry has cooked up a whole new, healthy way of living since starring in the hit '90s sitcom Sister, Sister, and she invited ET into her home, where she opened up about where life has taken her.
"It is still on the air -- Sister, Sister," Mowry tells ET's Nischelle Turner. "When I look back at the show, I go through the awkward stages of 'Oh my God! What were you wearing? Oh geez, Tia! What were you thinking?'"
READ: Tia Mowry Pens 'Food Is Powerful' in New Cookbook 'Whole New You'
It's been 23 years since Tia and her twin sister, Tamera, debuted as picture-perfect teenagers on Sister, Sister, but Tia admits that behind the scenes wasn't always as wholesome as it seemed.
In her new cookbook, Whole New You: How Real Food Transforms Your Life for a Healthier, More Gorgeous You, Tia reveals that she took diet pills while on the show, because of the pressure she felt to look good.
"I'm not proud of it," she writes. "I got skinny, but the pills caused my heart to race, and I knew in my gut that I was hurting myself."
Tia says she gave up the pills in college and hasn't taken any since.
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Now 38, Tia is focused on being a healthy example for her family. She's been married to actor Cory Hardrict since 2008. The two met on the set of a low-budget movie.
"One day after work, I got into the car and I saw my husband at the bus stop," Tia recalls to ET. "He was like, 'I'm going home.' And I was like, 'Well, I can go ahead and take you home.' And he was like, 'Well, um... it's uh.... in the hood.' And I was like, 'I don't care. So?' So, yeah, I took him home."
It wasn't until after they said "I do" that Tia learned she had a common disorder called endometriosis, which affects the uterus and can make it difficult to conceive a child.
Wanting to be a mom, Tia looked for a natural solution to her problem by ditching dairy, refined sugars and processed foods. She claims it changed her life.
READ: Tia Mowry Calls Out Body Shamer: 'I Wanted to Prove a Point'
"I ended up getting pregnant with my son, Cree," she says, calling him a "miracle baby." "When I told my doctor that I was pregnant, the first thing she told me was that it was because of that diet."
Tia and Cory welcomed Cree in June 2011. Learn more about Tia's clean-eating diet inside the pages of Whole New You, out now.