Shailene Woodley reveals why being 'stuck' on The Secret Life of the American Teenager was hard

Shailene Woodley has opened up about her breakout role in The Secret Life of the American Teenager.

In an interview with Bustle, the 28-year-old star revealed why being "stuck" on the show was one of the hardest things she's ever done — and how many of the show's messages she didn't agree with.

"When I signed onto Secret Life, I read [three] episodes and I signed a contract for six years," Woodley said.

"[Those episodes] all hit home. I had friends in high school who were pregnant. It felt like everything that I wanted to be sending into the world."

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The TV series explored ideas of relationships, high school and the experience of being a teen mum, but more notably abstinence — some characters were wearing promise rings or vowing to not have sex until marriage.

Woodley said she found herself struggling to come to terms with the show's message.

"There were a lot of things that were written into the scripts that not just me, but a lot of the cast, disagreed with," Woodley told Bustle.

"There were belief systems that were pushed that were different than my own. Yet legally I was stuck there. To this day it's one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. So being on Secret Life propelled me to be more vocal about my own belief systems."

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The Secret Life of the American Teenager ended in 2013. Woodley continued to star in other film and television roles, including The Fault in Our Stars and Big Little Lies.

Woodley plays the role of Jane Chapman in the series Big Little Lies. She also told Bustle that she used some of her own personal trauma to build on her character Jane, who is a rape survivor, in the show.

"I have had very traumatic sexual experiences," she said. "I translate[d] my personal trauma into what she was experiencing in the best way that I knew."

The star concluded the interview, saying she is focused on opening herself back up to love.

"I was trying to use relationships to distract me from getting to know myself," she said. "I can't run from myself. I can try, but my house is not that big."