Demi Lovato`s eating disorder made her "very manipulative"

The 19-year-old singer-and-actress - who entered rehab in late 2010 to seek help for her problems -spent two years prior to her hospitalisation doing whatever she could to avoid people finding out there was anything wrong.

She said: "I was a very manipulative person when it came to my eating disorder. You name it, I did it.

"I would lie about already eating. I would lie about having to go to the bathroom. I would go to any lengths to make sure I was sick."

The former `Sonny with a Chance` star admits her problems with food go back to a very young age.

She explained: "I began compulsive eating at the age of eight. Then, when I started being bullied at 12, I stopped eating. I went from overeating to undereating to throwing up."

At the height of her success, the `Camp Rock` star admits she could barely bring herself to look at pictures of herself in magazines because she was so uncomfortable with her appearance.

She told Britain`s Glamour magazine: "It never really went away. I`d try, but the impulses would come back. You feel like you`re on a downward spiral, but you have to fight through it.

"I had real difficulty with my body image. It was hard to look at myself in magazines. My friends would say, `Wow you look so gorgeous.` Everyone else was looking at what they thought as a beautiful girl, but I just couldn`t see that when I looked at myself."

sections: Celebrities