Hollywood star Evan Rachel Wood believes the pressures of being a child star prevented her from seeking psychological help.
The actor detailed the years of sexual abuse she was subjected to in a testimony to US Congress in February where she said she had been "mentally and physically tortured" by her former-partner and recounted incidents of rape, bondage and psychological abuse. The 30-year-old, who has been active in the entertainment industry since 1994, attempted suicide twice before she attended therapy and was diagnosed with PTSD.
"I had been a child star my whole life, and I had this intense pressure to be perfect and to not have problems and to not burden anyone with problems and to work. It kept me from getting help for a long time," Wood said in an interview with Refinery29.
She added: "There was something really freeing about it, and I realised that I really liked myself. And when I stripped literally everything away, I couldn't sing, I had nodes on my vocal chords. I couldn't walk. I was in a mental hospital. I was like, 'Wow how did I get here?'"
The Barefoot star insisted that getting help "wasn't as hard as feeling crazy", and said that her son has stopped her getting "upset over little things anymore".