AceShowbiz - Amanda Seyfried grew up terrified of intimacy - because her "small-town" mentality made her think sex was "dirty and disgusting". The 24-year-old "Mamma Mia!" star hails from a small community in Pennsylvania, where she grew up believing that being sexually active was wrong.

And the actress reveals she didn't begin to adopt a more liberal attitude until she moved to the big cities of New York and Los Angeles. She tells Britain's Stella magazine, "We have to be open-minded. I'm not saying Americans are narrow-minded - I've lived in New York and Los Angeles - but where I grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania, there was a small-town mindset that made me feel that sex was wrong."

"When my sister lost her virginity,I thought that was dirty and disgusting, and I was scared of sex. I remember I had a fight with my friend when I touched a boy for the first time and I didn't tell her. She got mad with me, not because I didn't tell her, but because I'd done it in the first place. Intimacy is a wonderful thing. It's frustrating that growing up I thought I was wrong. It isn't. Exploring your sexuality is important when you're growing up."