Shailene Woodley opens up about struggle with 'very scary physical situation' in her early 20s

American actor Shailene Woodley recently opened up about a health scare in her early 20s that got in the way of her career.

According to Fox News, the 28-year-olf film producer told The New York Times, "I haven't spoken much about this yet publicly, and I will one day, but I was very, very sick in my early 20s."

The 'Big Little Lies' star revealed that she was going through this while filming the 'Divergent' series and at the same time "struggling with a deeply personal, very scary physical situation."

She added, because of that "I said no to a lot of opportunities because I needed to get better, and those jobs ended up going peer of mine who I love. They went on to a lot of success, but there was a mix of people saying, 'You shouldn't have let that go!' or 'You shouldn't have been sick!'"

The 'Snowden' star added, "That was combined with my own internal process of, 'Am I going to survive what I'm going through right now and ever be healthy, or even have the opportunity to work on projects I'm passionate about again because of the situation I'm in?' I was in a place where I had no choice but to just surrender and let go of my career, and it brought out this negative voice in my mind that kept spinning for years and years afterwards."

Woodley also shared, that in her late teens she had a "strong idea of my identity and the meaning of my life," that all felt upended when she went through an abusive relationship.

The 'Adrift' actor shared that as a teenager and as a child, she always thought the acting was a hobby, and she never wanted the idea of making it into a career to take away her passion for it.

She recollected that in her 20s there was a huge chunk of time where fear, anxiety and competition were at the forefront of her mind and her ego in a way they weren't when she was younger.