Continued from page 3

Extreme Measures

Originally posted Thursday September 28, 2006 06:00 AM EDT

In 2001, Taylor, then known for playing Marcia Brady on the big screen, flaunted her curves. Now 35 and a mom of two (with husband Ben Stiller), she has said her kids keep her active. Photo by: JEFF VESPA / WIREIMAGE; DEBBIE VANSTORY / IPHOTO / NEWSCOM

Of course, the ongoing thin-thinner-thinnest sweepstakes is as much a part of certain fashion and showbiz circles as coffee and cigarettes. But beyond those perennial appetite suppressants, experts and industry insiders alike say that some Hollywood starlets – in an attempt to out-thin their runway counterparts and each other – are adopting drastic ways of slimming down. "There are a lot of girls taking horse tranquilizers, which are so incredibly dangerous," says former View cohost Debbie Matenopoulos, 31, who now cohosts Daily 10 on E! Adds Sara Albert, 23, a finalist on last season's America's Next Top Model who has been working steadily since then: "There's a huge drug scene. You have to have energy to model, but if you're not eating . . . So yeah, people turn to different methods of staying skinny."

Such talk is an open secret in Hollywood, says one source who has worked closely with a number of young celebrities. "If you're in these circles, people aren't quiet about it," says the source, who says the prescription ADHD drug Adderall XR has become a weight-loss favorite. "To them, taking a diet pill is like drinking a beer. It has simply become an acceptable part of the young Hollywood culture."

In an era when even healthy-looking stars like Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Lopez provoke preg- nancy chatter at the slightest appearance of a less-than-taut tummy, stars say the pressure to be hyperthin is out of control. And with television stars like Jaime Pressly and Portia de Rossi opening up about their struggles to conform to Hollywood standards of slimness, the question of how far TV pushes actresses has taken on new urgency. "Does [TV] put pressure on [actresses] to become anorexic? No," says Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman, 43, who has talked of battling bulimia and anorexia in her teens and early 20s. "Does it put pressure on them to become excruciatingly thin? Yes."