Kate Bosworth thinks she did "OK" growing up in public eye coping with Internet scrutiny

She then became recognised across the globe due to her three-year relationship with Orlando Bloom.

Bosworth - who was then in another high-profile romance with 'Tarzan'

star Alexander Skarsgard before she settled down and married director Michael Polish - managed to escape the trolls of social media at the start of her career but admits Googling her own name still brought her upset.

In an interview with Prestige Hong Kong magazine, she said: "I think I did OK (growing up). If I were to give myself a grade, I think I did pretty well, because it's a wild world, this whole thing of being under a microscope. We didn't have Instagram or Twitter in my early 20s, but you could Google and look at things online and be scrutinised, and that's a really bizarre place to be, because I grew up in a small town, I didn't really have any armour to shield myself.

So I think that when you're just a sensitive young kid in the world trying to figure it out, you're just dodging bullets and hoping you don't get hit in an artery."

Although she thinks social media can be a cruel forum for celebrities, Bosworth does respect the power it places in the hands of celebrities to get their own un-edited messages out.

The actress - who is to star in new BBC drama 'SS-GB', an adaptation of Len Deighton's novel of the same name - explained: "Social media, ironically, has in some ways bettered things. Yes, there's possibly even more invasion into the private lives of celebrities. But at least the artist has his or her own platform, too, now.

"The difference that 10 years makes - you could give a statement, but it felt more defensive, so it was better to say nothing at all, and in that way, your voice was diminished, so you felt powerless. I think it's a good thing that people are given a platform to have a voice."