After 25 years of acting, Kat Dennings has seen the entertainment industry become a much more inclusive place.

In an exclusive conversation with PEOPLE, Kat Dennings looks back at the harsh critiques she received from casting directors as a child actor and recalls how she was told she was "fat" at just 12 years old.

It was pretty crazy thinking about it. I’m like, ‘How can anyone say that about a little kid? This is insane,'” Dennings recalled.

Dennings looked back on her career and the Hollywood beauty standards she came up auditioning as a 12-year-old kid.

Kat Dennings explained that the casting directors would say “very cruel” things to her even though they were “talking about a child.”