Gabourey Sidibe doesn't want to be congratulated on losing weight

Explaining her position, Gabourey said: "You don't need to congratulate me on it.

"You don't congratulate me every time I blow my nose. I needed to.

It's my body. Mind your own body."

The New York-born star also hit out at those people who "want to feel like they have some sort of ownership over your body, even though you're a stranger".

Speaking to ABC News' Robin Roberts, Gabourey added: "It's even worse when you're recognisable like me."

Despite this, the 'Empire' actress acknowledged that "people are coming from a good place" when they offer their congratulations on her recent weight loss.

But Gabourey also claimed there is a misogynistic element to the discussion, insisting women are held up to much stricter standards than their male counterparts.

She said: "We tell women what they need to look like, and what they don't need to look like.

"There are plenty of like fat guys or whatever, and no one has ever written think pieces about why they need to lose weight. No one's ever going to accuse them while they were, you know, on a show promoting their film, that they're actually promoting an unhealthy diet."

Meanwhile, Gabourey recently claimed that working on a sex line was her "acting school".

The 34-year-old star believes her stint engaging in saucy chat on the telephone was good preparation for her debut role as an abuse victim in 'Precious'.

She said: "I was a phone sex operator from the ages of 21 to 24. It is improv. I actually was doing that not knowing that it was preparing me for like, 'Precious'. Like, [it's] so stupid. That was my acting school. That was my Juilliard."