“I would like to be a shoulder to lean on or someone to talk to whether I know you in real life or just on Twitter. I want to be here to help."

Ciara Bravo never set out to become the new face of anorexia.

But now that she, well… is, the lean and lovely star of RED BAND SOCIETY wants to use her celebrity to help others who struggle with eating disorders.

Ciara, 18, has been battling rumors about her own weight since she first rose to fame on the Nickelodeon series BIG TIME RUSH.

So imagine how awkward it must have been when RED BAND producers cast her as Emma Chota — a teen so thin and unhealthy she is confined to a hospital.

“It is a little like being cast to play the ugly girl,” Ciara says. “You are like, ‘Yay, I got a part…as the ugly girl!’ But it’s still exciting and I still get to act and do what I love.”

“As long as you are confident and you know who you are, then you are going to be fine. Being skinny is something I have dealt with. I have been this way my whole life, so being skinny is nothing new. Having people accuse me of not eating is nothing new to me.”

In early 2013, Ciara tried to calm internet rumors, tweeting: “Anorexia ain’t no joke guys. Make sure you all take care of yourselves! I don’t want your pretty faces getting hurt!”

Anorexia ain’t no joke guys. Make sure you all take care of yourselves! I don’t want your pretty faces getting hurt! — Ciara Bravo (@ciarabravo) January 29, 2013

Now the Kentucky-born actress is taking her cause a step further.

“[Anorexia] is not something I have been through before, so I cannot give my own personal advice on ways to treat it, but I can be a person for people suffering with eating disorders to turn to,” she tells me.

“I would like to be a shoulder to lean on or someone to talk to whether I know you in real life or just on Twitter. I want to be here to help. And I want Emma to allow you to stand up and say, ‘I want help. I want to get better.’”

Ciara told me more about her commitment to fans and what makes RED BAND SOCIETY this fall’s must see teen drama when we caught up at a Fox network party in Beverly Hills.

What is appealing about this show to young adults and teens?

What I think is appealing is that we are teenagers living with these ailments, but we are still going through normal teenager stuff and crushes. So I think they will be able to watch the show, learn those lessons along with us and relate to them.

Every good teen drama has lots of sex and romance and hooking up. How is that going to work when there are so few of you?

You know, we have this little thing called a love quadrangle going on. So the whole classic, “He is dating her to make someone else jealous” thing will be going on. Almost like a high school kind of setting.

Tell us about Emma…

Emma is 16 years-old and she is living with an eating disorder. It is something that many young teens suffer from. I hope she can be someone that they can looks up to. Because she is getting help. And she is trying to get better. Having an eating disorder isn’t a choice. It is something that happens. And the most you can do is try.

And she is that sick with her eating disorder that she needs to be hospitalized for a long time?

For a very long time. In and out all the time. And that is never any fun. But I think she is an incredibly wonderful person and an eating disorder isn’t something that consumes your whole life. You are still a person and you still have school to focus on and being a teen. I think Emma does a really good job of portraying that.

People have suggested that you might have an eating disorder…

Yes. And you know, it is a serious disease. And you know what they say about assuming… But yes, it is something important to me and I want to bring light to that topic.

Was it difficult for you to hear those accusations?

No. It doesn’t matter. You are always going to be put into that light. Like I said, it is not something I have suffered from before, so I don’t know the half of it. The most I have been able to do is research on the internet or speaking to people who have [suffered from an eating disorder]. That has been an incredibly enlightening experience. But it is something that is a little scary to deal with.

Is too much emphasis put on body image today?

It is a pretty taboo topic. But I don’t know… I think it is important to stay healthy, to eat right, to exercise and that is all we need to focus on. I feel like sometimes people can be a little too harsh and honestly, it sucks that they are that way. But there is nothing we can do about that except do things that make us feel confident about ourselves and remember I am happy the way I am. I am healthy. I enjoy myself. You shouldn’t have to defend yourself.

Back to Emma for a moment — is she a good girl? A mixed up kid?

I think Emma can be a bit of a mixed up kid, but she’s a good girl and she knows what she wants and where she is headed in life. She is all about education. She wants to go to college. She wants to be someone. I feel like as the story goes on, both me and the audience to will learn a lot more about her.

Either the kids in this hospital will eventually get better or they are going to die. One or the other. What do you think is going to happen to Emma?

What everybody forgets is that a majority of time you do get better and you get to leave the hospital. I hope that Emma reaches that point because I am attached to her and I don’t want to see her go.

RED BAND SOCIETY airs Wednesdays at 9:00 PM on Fox.