'I Got Comfortable In My Skin Through Stand-Up Comedy': Chloé Hilliard On Book 'F*CK Your Diet'

(CBS Local)--Chloé Hilliard never expected to be a comedian.

Hilliard worked in journalism for over a decade before making the jump to stand-up comedy. The comic is now an author after Simon & Schuster published her book "F*CK Your Diet: And Other Things My Thighs Tell Me." Hilliard wanted her book to be personal and informational.

"I combined my issues with body, weight, and security and related it to how people deal with food and diet," said Hilliard in an interview with CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith. "My first diet was when I was eight or nine years old and my mom put me on a diet. I've been dealing with this my whole life. The more I talked about it and researched about it, I realized there are more people like me who are dealing with their size or insecurity. I wanted to write something so people could let themselves off the hook. There are so many other things that play a role in what we eat."

While Hilliard has dealt issues around body image and food for years, she says that humor has played an important role in her journey.

"I have to just laugh at the absurdity of the things I went through," said Hilliard. "I didn't have the information, it wasn't just me... it was my parents and my community. Even as a kid I remember my grandmother saying you have to eat everything on your plate. I didn't want to eat that food and everyone in the 80s said there are starving kids in Africa. I'm five and I don't even know where Africa is. Thinking back, she was doing the best she could, but she was teaching me to overeat. I got really comfortable in my skin when I started doing stand-up comedy."

"F*CK Your Diet: And Other Things My Thighs Tell Me" is available now wherever books are sold.