JoJo Says Filming 2006's “Aquamarine” 'Brought Out Insecurities' About Her Body: ‘I Was Not as Skinny as the Other Girls’

Former child star Joanna “JoJo” Levesque says “playing the tomboy” in the now-cult classic impacted her body image

Former child starJoanna “JoJo” Levesque is looking back on her cult classic movie Aquamarine, which she shot when she was 14, and revealing how the film “brought out some insecurities in me.”

On the Sept. 18 episode ofThe Viall Files podcast, the singer, now 33, told Bachelor alum Nick Viall and his co-host and wife, Natalie Joy, that the film “was my first big movie that I had done.”

She explained that in the 2006 fantasy film she “was playing the tomboy." She continued, "I was not as skinny as the other girls. I felt really like —” she used her elbows to mimic a larger body “—next to them.”

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“I just remember feeling like that, and I was like, ‘Oh,’ " she said, shaking her head.

“So from a young age, I think, we're all kind of aware, or we're measuring ourselves up next to other girls — and I was no different,” she said.

However, it wasn’t all bad, as Levesque shared that she “learned a lot on that set,” which was “awesome” to film in Australia.

Aquamarine also starred Sara Paxton as the title character, a mermaid who’s run away from an arranged marriage under the sea and ends up befriending Florida mortals played by Levesque and Emma Roberts.

Related: JoJo Talks New Music at American Music Awards: 'If You're a Depressed Millennial, It'll Resonate'

Although it wasn’t a box office hit, the film has become a touchstone for millennials and even younger generations.

“Natalie’s obsessed with Aquamarine,” Viall, 43, said, prompting Joy, 25, to respond that "everyone’s obsessed with Aquamarine.”

Levesque said the love for the film is “funny — it is! I hope that that word isn't offensive," she added, "I don't mean it like that, but it's just so funny because it's, like, just such a silly movie.”

“It's such a moment,” she continued. ”It's like a little cult classic, low-key, for girls of our demographic.”

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"It's nice that women my age who have daughters, it's something that they'll play for their daughters," Levesque said.

"I'm so excited to show our daughter," Joy responded, bringing up the couple's first child, 7-month-old River Rose, prompting Levesque to say, "Aww!"

Related: JoJo Says It's a 'Dream Come True' to Make Broadway Debut as Satine in 'Moulin Rouge! The Musical'

Levesque, whose memoir Over the Influence was released on Tuesday, Sept. 17, has been looking back on her career in the spotlight — and how it shaped her adulthood.

“When you're a child and you're working, you start to see yourself and your body as something that's a commodity,” she told PEOPLE, advocating for improved on-set education, mandatory downtime and therapists.

“I think that if a child is working and making money, there needs to be other things that are just for the joy of being a child.”

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