Home and Away star Tammin Sursok star reveals eight-year battle with eating disorder

Tammin Sursok has opened up about a painful part of her past.

The South African-born Australian actress, 35, shared an emotional Instagram post Friday detailing her eight-year battle with an eating disorder. Posting a photo of herself from what appeared to be her late teens-to-early 20s, which may have been around the time she appeared as Dani Sutherland on Home and Away, she wrote, "This was the height of my eating disorder. That day I had eaten half a pack of rice thins and 5 cups of coffee. That's what I had lived on for almost 6 months prior."

"I remember how sad I felt," she recalled. "Pictures lie, don't they? I was dying to be perfect."

The Pretty Little Liars star admitted that she "was not well" from age 15 until 23. Her condition stemmed from being bullied for her weight as a young girl. 

"Eight years of torture I put myself through to remain slim after I had been tormented as an overweight kid. For I feared that if I went back to that then the emotional pain would be worse than the physical one I was putting myself through. Your secrets make you sick. And I believe the more we talk about our truth the less isolated we become. We start to heal," she said.

However, the mum-of-one revealed that after hitting "rock bottom" at age 23, she regained control of her health and encouraged her followers to do the same.

"I stopped wanting to be sick. And I've been healthy every day since. Never looked back."

If you, or someone you know needs support relating to eating disorders, please call The Butterfly Foundation on 1800 33 4673. In an emergency, call 000.