Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence was told to diet or risk her career in Hollywood, the Hunger Games star has revealed.

Interviewed in Harper's Bazaar magazine, Lawrence said she was labelled "fat" and encouraged to lose weight by producers.

"It was just the kind of shit that actresses have to go through," said the 23-year-old winner of this year's Oscar for best actress. "Somebody told me I was fat, that I was going to get fired if I didn't lose a certain amount of weight.

"They brought in pictures of me where I was basically naked, and told me to use them as motivation for my diet. They thought that because of the way my career had gone, it wouldn't still hurt me."

Lawrence said she had developed a technique for dealing with such issues after Academy recognition for her role in David O Russell comedy drama Silver Linings Playbook and box office glory for last year's The Hunger Games. "If anybody even tries to whisper the word 'diet, I'm like, 'You can go fuck yourself," she said.

• This article was amended on 3 October 2013. Lawrence won the Oscar for best actress, not best supporting actress as the original said.

• Jennifer Lawrence's clothes in Silver Linings Playbook sell at auction

• Jennifer Lawrence: how Hollywood fell in love with this perfectly imperfect star