Hilary Duff discusses 'horrifying' eating disorder as 17-year-old child star

The 'How I Met Your Father' actress first rose to fame as a teenager on the Disney show 'Lizzie McGuire'

Hilary Duff says she suffered from a "horrifying" eating disorder when she was 17. 

"Because of my career path, I can’t help but be like, ‘I am on camera and actresses are skinny,’" the actress, who became a teen star on Disney Channel’s "Lizzie McGuire" in 2001 when she was 13, told Women’s Health Australia for its January issue. "It was horrifying."

In 2014, the actress told Health.com she had withered to an unhealthy 98 pounds at one point as a teen.

"I was totally obsessed with everything I put in my mouth," she said at the time. "I was way too skinny. Not cute. And my body wasn’t that healthy — my hands would cramp up a lot because I wasn’t getting the nutrition I needed."

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Hilary Duff once got down to 98 pounds as a teenager with an eating disorder. (Photo by James Devaney/GC Images)

The "How I Met Your Father" star said as a 35-year-old she now appreciates her "health, doing activities that make me feel strong instead of just bettering the outside of my body. Spending time with people that make me feel good and share similar views on health and body positivity and getting enough sleep and balance in my diet."

Hilary Duff rose to fame at 13 years old on Disney Channel's Lizzie McGuire. (L. Cohen/WireImage)

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Last year, Duff told Women’s Health she now feels "proud" of her body and the fact that "it’s produced three children for me."

Hilary Duff said she appreciates that her body has "produced three children."  (Christian Thompson/Disneyland Resort via Getty Images)

She told the magazine she feels "peaceful with the changes my body has gone through."

"I also want people to know a makeup artist was there putting glow all over my body and someone put me in the most flattering position," she added of the photoshoot, for which she posed nude

She said she started to feel a sense of peace about her body after having her second of three children. 

The actress shares son Luca, 10, with ex Mike Comrie, and daughters Banks, 4, and Mae, 1, with husband Matthew Koma. 

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"I didn’t even know if I was going to have the opportunity to have another child," she said, referring to her 2016 divorce. "So, being a mom again, maybe. It was a whole mix of things—of being settled and realizing that I’m powerful and talented and smart. All mental things." 

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