When Liv and Maddie premiered on Disney Channel back in 2013, Dove Cameron was propelled into the spotlight. But now, the former Disney star is opening up about the negative sides of getting so much attention at such a young age.

“My earliest years in the industry were some of the best years of my life, while also being some of my worst and an unbelievable uphill battle. I definitely had a lot of fun, experimenting with who I was, what my abilities were, falling in love for the first time and navigating this entirely new world that I was now, all of a sudden, involved in,” the actress explained during to Create & Cultivate. “While this was happening, I was also dealing with the death of my father, severe anorexia and bulimia, anxiety relating to newfound fame and global attention and what would eventually become an incredibly unhealthy relationship.”

As fans know, the 24-year-old’s dad, Philip Hosterman, passed away when she was 15 years old. But as difficult as things were, the blonde beauty explained that it all made her a lot stronger in the end.

“I think everything in those years, and every year leading up to present day, career or personal or both, has prepared me for my career and life now, as I am without a doubt, the strongest, most concentrated, and most unabashed that I have ever been in my life,” she added. “It wasn’t all magic, but it does feel like it was all exactly how it needed to be to get me to be where I am now and the human that I have become.”

This isn’t the first time Dove has opened up about her past issues. Back in July 2019, she told Seventeen Magazine, “I would call myself incredibly anxious, and I have dealt with depression. And I do have episodes of absolutely what feels like mania or something that is like I’m all of a sudden in the pits of despair. I can’t get myself out. I’m on the floor and I’m crying. I was scared when I was younger to talk about certain topics because there are a lot of people in this industry that tell you not to speak about a lot of things. Then as you get older you’re kind of like, wait, no, maybe I know better. Maybe I don’t care about what you think. Maybe the risk is much less important than the gain. And I think so much normalcy would come from demystifying a lot in our own personal lives for younger people to look at.”

If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Youth Crisis Hotline at 1-800-448-4663.

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