Gabourey Sidibe recalled the racist treatment she endured while being a phone sex operator before her career got off the ground.

The actress appears in the new Apple TV+ two-part documentary “Number One on the Call Sheet,” where she details having to use a whitewashed voice as a phone sex operator. Sidibe appeared in episode two, titled “Black Leading Women in Hollywood,” along with fellow actresses like Nia Long, Halle Berry, and Taraji P. Henson.

“I got the role of 'Precious' when I was 24,” the mother of two shared, per People. “And before that, I was just acting in between whatever it was the rest of my life. And the rest of my life at that point, I was working at a call center as a phone-sex operator. FYI, the company was mostly Black women. You’re not at all allowed to be Black on the phone.”

So the actress put on her best Valley Girl voice, adopting the name ‘Melody’ while working in the phone sex industry. “There’s a Black girl line. Guess what—was barely ever called, that one. So my girl's name is Melody, she continued. “And every call, I’d be like, [in higher register] ‘Hello.’ And he’s like, ‘Hey, what’s your name?’ ‘Hi, I’m Melody.’ ‘How you doin’? Are you good?’ ‘Yeah, I’m totally good right now. Um, I just got home from school. I’m in college, and it’s, like, my sophomore year.”

The actress revealed that Black women in the call center were “trained to hate ourselves.” “And the world around us is also trained to reinforce it. But there’s something in me that’s like, ‘I don’t bend to that,’” Sidibe said. “Whatever it is that you don’t like about me, I’ll do it harder, and I’ll smile in your face. And that’s what I felt Precious needed to be.”

Sidibe has discussed her past profession as a phone sex operator before, including a visit on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” In the episode, Sidibe explained that she went from operator to quality assurance operator within a short period.

It’s safe to say that Sidibe hasn’t returned to the office since making her breakout in “Precious.” She’s also starred in films like “Antebellum” and shows “Empire,” the “American Horror Story” franchise, and currently, “StuGo.”