Hilary Duff suffered from a "horrifying" eating disorder when she was 17.
Hilary Duff has opened up
The 35-year-old star has reflected on the impact of childhood fame and the pressure she felt as a teenage actress in the public eye.
Speaking to Women's Health Australia, she said: "Because of my career path, I can’t help but be like, ‘I am on camera and actresses are skinny'. It was horrifying.”
The 'How I Met Your Father' and 'Lizzie McGuire' actress revealed she has learned to appreciate her health and embrace a new focus.
She explained: "[I’m] appreciating my health, doing activities that make me feel strong instead of just bettering the outside of my body.
"Spending time with people that make me feel good and share similar views on health and body positivity and getting enough sleep and balance in my diet.”
She has worked with personal trainer Dominic Leeder, and he noted the way he approaches fitness for his clients.
He explained: “The most common unrealistic goal people have is wanting to lose a significant amount of weight, fast. I feel that it’s exacerbated by a lot of famous people who have gone on, what I would call, a fad diet, and lost an incredible amount of weight.
"They take photos, you see it, but no one knows what happens after that. And often with fad diets, things deteriorate straight away afterwards.
"Reaching your fitness goals is more of a marathon than it is a sprint. And making it a marathon means that my main focus for my clients is to not just to reach their goal but to keep their goal. And doing it quickly often doesn’t allow them to keep it.”
Meanwhile, earlier this year Hilary - who has son Luca, 10, with ex Mike Comrie and four-year-old daughter Banks and 19-month-old daughter Mae with husband Matthew Koma - celebrated her body with a nude photoshoot for Women's Health magazine's Body Issue.
She said at the time: "I'm proud of my body. I'm proud that it's produced three children for me. I've gotten to a place of being peaceful with the changes my body has gone through.
"I also want people to know a makeup artist was there putting glow all over my body and someone put me in the most flattering position."
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