Voluptuous starlet Christina Hendricks felt “gorgeous” after gaining weight.

The Mad Men actress thinks she was too skinny when she was a model and was thrilled when she piled on the pounds after living in Italy because she started to look like a real woman.

“I guess my mom raised me right. She was very celebratory of her body. I never heard her once say, ‘I feel fat.’ Back when I was modeling, the first time I went to Italy I was having cappuccinos every day, and I gained 15 pounds. And I felt gorgeous! I would take my clothes off in front of the mirror and be like, Oh, I look like a woman. And I felt beautiful, and I never tried to lose it, ‘cause I loved it.”

Although the 35-year-old star is happy with her curves, she admits she’s had to start going to the gym but has surprised herself by how much she enjoys it:

“I was a dancer until I was 19. I never had to worry about working out or what I ate. So I’ve really had to train myself to get down to the gym. But what surprised me was that the other day my husband said, ‘I’m going down to work out,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, I wish I was going.’ And I was like, ‘Ooh! I can’t believe I just said that!’ I’d had a busy week working 16-hour days, and I didn’t get to work out, and I missed it. My friends will read this and be like, ‘No you didn’t.’ But it’s true!”