Fantastic Four’s Jessica Alba has revealed that she suffers from neuroses like the rest of us - and has had struggled with an eating disorder, as well as obsessive compulsive behaviour, anxiety attacks and insomnia.

Speaking to The Sun, Jessica revealed she stopped going to regular school at the age of 12: “I had big dreams. I was focused at a very young age. I hated school. I didn’t have any friends.”

It was around this time that her eating disorder began to develop: “Everyone in my family is overweight. I wanted to be healthier, so I started cooking for myself when I was 12. A lot of girls have eating disorders and I did too. I became obsessed with it,” an obsession that wasn’t helped by a gruelling three hour a day exercise regime for “Dark Angel“.

Her turning point was when her weight went below seven stone and she couldn’t stop shivering. She recently showed off her more healthy curves in Sin City (playing a stripper) and while wearing a skin tight jumpsuit in Fantastic Four.

She doesn’t like sell herself on her looks alone though: “I never see myself as a beautiful woman and have never traded on that to get ahead in this business.”