Hilary Duff Admits To Struggling With Body Image During Teenage Years

Hilary Duff is best known for her roles in “Lizzie McGuire,”“Younger,” and “How I Met Your Father." 

The actress quickly rose to fame on Disney Channelwhen she was just a teenager, and with the pressure of Hollywood at a young age, many stars face challenges. For the Disney alum -- it was body image and an eating disorder, which she is now opening up about for the first time.

When Hilary Duff was just 17 years old, she was constantly on camera surrounded by other women who were "skinny," leading to the Disney Channel actress to start focusing on her body -- and not in a healthy way.

"Because of my career path, I can't help but be like, ‘I am on camera and actresses are skinny,'" the 35-year-old told Women's Health Australia. "It was horrifying."

Luckily, as Duff got older, she became more aware of her health and eating habits and decided to get her fitness back in check. "[I'm] appreciating my health, doing activities that make me feel strong instead of just bettering the outside of my body," Duff continued to explain. "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."

The mom of three had help from personal trainer Dominic Leeder in getting her health back on track and eating healthier.

"I don't feel like she'll mind me saying this: yes, her fitness and health are hugely important to Hilary," Leeder told Women's Health Australia. "What's more important to her is her family and work. When she comes home from work, she wants to spend time with her family because she spends very little time with them when she's hard at work, so every moment counts."

In order to help Duff change her habits, first they had to change her mindset -- shifting her focus to how the actress exercised. "When I met Hilary, we decided to focus on resistance training, because we wanted to build lean muscle mass and up her metabolism," he revealed.

"Her diet was also a huge factor and I wanted to make sure that she was eating the correct amount of macros for the goal that she needed," he continued.

Earlier this year, the mom of three put herself out there and posed nude for Women’s Health Magazine, something she admits was not easy to do. “Sooooo, this was scary…..,” the “Younger” actress began in an Instagram post sharing the news. “I knew doing this would terrify me and I was right!”

She continued to thank Women’s Health Magazine who “had the most lovely all-women shoot” and “actually had the best time” doing this project. “I felt strong and beautiful and laughed a lot getting into some of these poses without my high-waisted mom jeans and oversized whatever I normally wear,” she said.

“Thank you to everyone who normalized this day for me and propped me up with compliments and love,” Duff said.