AceShowbiz -

The long-time kept secret has been revealed. Thandie Newton once battled bulimia.

In an interview with Easy Living magazine for its September issue, the BAFTA Award-winning English actress opens up about her bulimic past, telling the publication "I had terrible bulimia for about a year." And as a result of the dark past life, she "still got the scars on my knuckles from where I put my fingers down my throat."

"The Pursuit of Happyness" star, furthermore, revealed her body obsession started when she was just 14th when she was training for her ballet exams and ate nothing but cottage cheese. Soon after she endured a number of abusive relationships and her bulimia then developed when she was in her early 20s.

"I'd been involved with this guy for a long time, he was much older than me and I felt a lot of shame about my sexual relationship with him," Newton tells Easy Living. "I would have these dinners with him and then go back to the flat and I'd throw up. Then I went out with someone who was emotionally abusive, criticizing me the whole time."

Newton soon "saw a therapist for the first time. After that first session, I never threw up again. I had made the connection between shame and self abuse." Being asked on how she sees herself now that she's sober, Newton answered, "I see a happy, defiant, loving friend."