Director David O. Russell ordered Jennifer Lawrence to "relax" and eat proper meals while working on Silver Linings Playbook because he didn't want her to look super-skinny in the new movie.

The 22 year old has sported a slender figure for films including X-Men: First Class and The Hunger Games, but Russell wanted her to look more normal for her role as a depressed young widow, opposite Bradley Cooper.

He tells the New York Post's gossip column Page Six, "I like her as a real person. She looked like she'd been working (out) hard. I just encouraged her to relax and eat a good meal. She immediately got herself a... cheese steak."

Lawrence recently admitted she refuses to starve herself for movie roles because she wants to set a positive example to her young female fans, telling Elle magazine, "In Hollywood, I'm obese. I'm considered a fat actress... I eat like a caveman. I'll be the only actress who doesn't have anorexia rumours... I'm never going to starve myself for a part. I keep waiting for that one role to come along that scares me enough into dieting, and it just can't happen. I'm invincible."