Actress Gabourey Sidibe has been flaunting her dramatic weight loss online in quite a few selfies these days and now she’s finally come clean about having weight-loss surgery.

The Empire star reportedly underwent bariatric surgery last year after battling depression, anxiety and bulima. Now, she’s opening up about her struggles in her new memoir, This is Just My Face: Try Not to Stare and also speaks about it in a new interview with PEOPLE.

“I just didn’t want to worry,” Sidibe, 33, tells PEOPLE of her decision to get laproscopic bariatric surgery after she and her older brother Ahmed, 34, were diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.

“I truly didn’t want to worry about all the effects that go along with diabetes. I genuinely [would] worry all the time about losing my toes.”

The actress rose to fame back in 2009 with her acting debut in Precious.

Sidibe revealed to PEOPLE that she tried for more than a decade to lose weight naturally before opting for a surgical alternative and in May of 2016, she secretly went under the knife.

“My surgeon said they’d cut my stomach in half. This would limit my hunger and capacity to eat. My brain chemistry would change and I’d want to eat healthier. I’ll take it! My lifelong relationship with food had to change,” she writes in her wise, witty and unapologetic memoir, out in May.

“The surgery wasn’t the easy way out,” she says. “I wasn’t cheating by getting it done. I wouldn’t have been able to lose as much as I’ve lost without it.”

Since the procedure, Sidibe says she has changed her eating habits and is working with a nutritionist.  She also revealed that she upped her fitness regimen, working out with a trainer, swimming and riding a tricycle around the Empire set.

In her book, ‘This is Just My Face: Try Not to Stare’, Gabourey writes:

It has taken me years to realize that what I was born with is all beautiful.  I did not get this surgery to be beautiful. I did it so I can walk around comfortably in heels. I want to do a cartwheel. I want not to be in pain every time I walk up a flight of stairs.

She continues:

I know I’m beautiful in my current face and my current body. What I don’t know about is the next body.

I admit it, I hope to God I don’t get skinny. If I could lose enough to just be a little chubby, I’ll be over the moon! Will I still be beautiful then? S—. Probably. My beauty doesn’t come from a mirror. It never will.

Indeed, Academy Award-winning actress has come to appreciate her appearance, no matter her dress size.

“There’s nothing ugly about me. Anyone trying to convince me that I am — and it’s usually me — is wasting her time,” she says.

“I was in a war with my body for a long time. If I’d started treating it better sooner, I wouldn’t have spent so many years hating myself. But I love my body now.”

Congrats to Gabby on her weight loss journey.  It’s a tough road, but persistence definitely pays off!

CLICK HERE to for information on purchasing Gabourey Sidebe’s new book, This is Just My Face: Try Not to Stare.

What do you think of Gabourey’ s revelation about her weight loss surgery?

Photos: Instagram