Amber Riley, who plays the vocal powerhouse Mercedes on hit U.S. series 'Glee', has revealed that being a size 16 in Hollywood is a constant struggle.

The star took part in an emotional interview as part of MTV's This Is How I Made It and broke down in tears while talking about the pressure to be thin in Los Angeles:

"Hollywood is a very hard place to be in. It really is. Being the person I am, you know, the size I am, being a woman, being a black woman, there's not a lot of roles for us."

She added that every part she auditioned for became the same role and she was constantly typecast: "I kept on auditioning. I was being offered the girl who sits in the corner and eats all day, the girl who committed suicide because she was fat."

"I never wanted to play a character that hated herself. I wanted people to know that those aren't the only roles for people like me, normal girls."

Riley also explained that having a strong upbringing helped her to cope with the personal criticism from casting directors: "Going to the auditions and having the casting director say you need to loose a little weight, I didn't understand why people couldn't accept me for who I was. And the rejection started wearing on my self-esteem."

"I'm not going to conform, and hurt myself, and do something crazy to be a size 2. My parents always instilled knowing that your beautiful, that your fearfully and wonderfully made, and that you know who you are."

Watch her sing acapella on a radio show below: