Iconic Disney Channel actress Kim Rhodes has praised her TV show "sons" for defending her when fat jokes were allegedly written into the script because she was pregnant.

The 54-year-old American actress, best known for her role as Zac and Cody's mum Carey Martin on the sitcoms The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and The Suite Life on Deck, recently opened up about her time on set filming the beloved series. But while the show may have put smiles on the faces of millions of children, it wasn't all Disney magic for Kim herself.

Rhode fell pregnant while shooting the show and gave birth to a baby girl, Tabitha Jane, in May 2008. While this should have been a joyous time for the actress, she claims the show dealt with her pregnancy by writing jokes about her weight into the script.

READ MORE: Where Suite Life of Zack and Cody stars now - arrested, sex symbol and Hollywood fame

READ MORE: Join the Daily Star Soaps WhatsApp for all the latest spoilers and exclusives

But twins Cole and Dylan Sprouse defended their TV mum "all the way through" - despite only being teenagers at the time - and it became one of her fondest memories of working with the twins.

Kim Rhodes pictured as Carey Martin on the Disney Channel sitcoms The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, with twin actors Cole and Dylan Sprouse
Kim Rhodes is best known for her role as Zac and Cody's mum Carey Martin on the Disney Channel sitcoms The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and The Suite Life on Deck - which starred twin actors Cole and Dylan Sprouse

Speaking in the virtual interview for the Back To The Best podcast on social media, Kim explained: "I got pregnant when I was on the show, and of course the show dealt with it by making fat jokes. And one of my favourite memories is Dylan had a line that was a fat joke and he just kept skipping over it.

"It was like in the middle of a chunk of dialogue. So he kept skipping this last line and skipping it and skipping it and skipping it. And finally we get to in front of the studio audience and he skips it and the executive producer screams 'CUT!'"

She said the crew then tried to convince Dylan to say the line, to which he allegedly replied: "I would not disrespect any woman that way, let alone this woman. You write something funny and I'll say it."

Disney actress Kim Rhodes
The Disney Channel mum fell pregnant while filming for the Suite Life series in 2008

For more of the latest showbiz news from Daily Star, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.

The moment made Kim their proud on-screen mum as she declared: "That's my little man. They're both my little men." The heart-warming story has since gained more than 152,000 likes on TikTok as fans took to the comments to praise the child stars for being respectful.

One user said: "Dylan sounds like such a sweetheart." Another added: "Okay but to be that young and have that strength to say that to the executive producer like I freaking love them."

Quoteing an iconic line from Cole's character Cody, a third added: "How do you lose a woman! You forget to cherish her." Meanwhile, a fourth wrote: "Looks like both his Mama’s raised him right."