Tiffany Darwish went from 1980s teenage pop star to 2002 Playboy covergirl.  However weight-gain became a problem for her early last year, which prompted her decision to sign-up as a participant on the fifth season of VH1's Celebrity Fit Club.

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"I was 30 pounds overweight," Tiffany explained to In Touch Weekly in the magazine's June 25 issue.  "I noticed when fans would give me pictures to sign that I was signing over my midsection a lot!"

The 35-year-old said she had previously tried "crazy diets and pills" to curtail her weight, which was at 153 pounds when she started filming for Celebrity Fit Club 5, which premiered on VH1 in April.

"I did Fit Club because I knew that they would push me.," Tiffany told In Touch as to why she decided to try and shed pound in-front of a television audience.  "You have people watching you and you don't want to be a failure, so I took it very seriously."

Tiffany burst onto the scene in 1987 with her cover of the Tommy James & the Shondells hit "I Think We're Alone Now," which she promoted by performing at various malls across America.  However she thinks it was the infectious pop-sound of the song as well as her trademark red hair that caught the attention of fans.

"I didn't really show my body.  I wasn't sexy," Tiffany told In Touch about her days as a teen pop star. 

While her career subsequently stalled as she grew-up, a 31-year-old Tiffany appeared on the April 2002 cover of Playboy, a pictorial that she said she took into consideration before joining Celebrity Fit Club 5.

"I'm really proud about being in shape and making that commitment to myself," Tiffany told In Touch about posing nude.  "I felt great about my body then!  I knew when I did Fit Club that people would be thinking, 'Oh, she was so hot in 2002, and now look at her.'"

But weight became in issue for Tiffany in early 2006 when she married Ben George, and the two became "comfortable with each other."  Her weight reached 153 pounds prior to Fit Club, and thanks to the reality television weight-loss competition, she was able to shed the 30 pounds she had hoped to lose when she signed up.

"I made a lot of bad choices, like eating after shows or waiting until I was so hungry that I ate too much and rolled out of the chair.  I relied a lot on caffeine to pick-up my energy and ate Taco Bell because it was affordable and easy," Tiffany told In Touch about her pre-Fit Club days.  "[Now] I make healthier choices.  Today, I got up at 5:30AM and had a banana, a handful of almonds that I keep in my car and then scrambled eggs.  Before, I'd have skipped breakfast or gone to McDonald's."

Tiffany said she's also learned to be "honest" with herself, a simple solution that helps her deal with her body image.

"I'm not one of these girls that thinks you have to be a size 2," she told In Touch, "but you have to be healthy, fit and feel confident in your body."
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio
Christopher Rocchio is an entertainment reporter for Reality TV World and has covered the reality TV genre for several years.