"I wish I had been nude from the time I was 12 until I was 28. I looked great!" the Ghost Whisperer actress, 29, tells Health magazine in its September issue.
"I so wish I had listened to my mom and grandma when I was 18 and would complain about some little tiny bump or feeling bloated," says the star, who is engaged to Scottish actor Ross McCall. "I used to scoff and say, 'No, I feel fat today!' Now the joke's on me."
Hewitt found herself defending her figure last year when several Web sites criticized her weight after she was pictured vacationing in a bikini.
These days, she's spreading some body image love to her younger peers. "I want to tell all young girls to walk around in bikinis all summer, because there will be that one day in your twenties when you'll eat a hamburger and actually see the hamburger on the side of your leg," she jokes.
The next milestone for the actress is turning 30 this February – and she can barely wait. "I'm so excited! It's my dream age," she says. "I don't know why but, literally since my 12th birthday I've wanted to turn 30."
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