Kate Bosworth found fame "intense and overwhelming" at first

Speaking on the 'Ladies First With Laura Brown' podcast, she said: "It was so intense and overwhelming. I did not know how to handle that at all. And I also did not know how to really communicate through that very well to support systems or to my friends or family.

"I was losing a lot of weight because I was really under a lot of scrutiny, and I was so stressed and spun out that if you see images of me then, it's like seeing someone under duress."

And the 'Superman Returns' star had no idea how to deal with her health issues.

She admitted: "I think that a lot of times people in the spotlight get this sort of thing, like, 'Well, that's what you chose,' and that's what it is."

Kate has a "lot of empathy" for Hollywood starlets and remembered how the "heartbreaking" criticism she received left her hating her position.

She admitted: "I felt like I wanted to disappear, I really did."

While the early 2000s were a "real time of cruelty" for young stars such as Lindsay Lohan, Kate admitted she "cannot imagine" what it's like for women coming of age in the spotlight in the social media age, where apps such as Instagram portray "unattainable, crazy amounts of perfection."

The 'Straw Dogs' actress recalled how her now-husband Mike Polish - who she married in 2013 - was initially a mentor to her before becoming her "best friend and lover" and she's grateful for their "very firm partnership".

She said: "I met Mike, and he had made a career of making movies that were from concept to delivery. He had an idea, he would write a script, he would make them, and they would become films. And he was the first person in my corner who really said, 'Oh, but you can do anything you want.' He really did become a mentor to me, I feel like he still is.

"That relationship has sort of segued now into a very firm partnership. He's 14 years older than me; he'd been doing this for a lot longer than I had. And he just really took me by the hand and said, 'We've got this; you've got this.'"