Portia de Rossi: hiding lesbianism led to eating disorder

The model-turned-actress - who is married to Ellen DeGeneres - spoke of her long-term problems with body image, admitting she thinks she would still be suffering from anorexia nervosa if she hadn`t grown to accept herself.

Portia, who started dating Ellen in 2004, told the US TV talk show host: "I think I would have still suffered from an eating disorder if I wasn`t coming to terms with my sexuality.

"I really had the eating disorder because I started dieting when I was 12 and because of a lifetime of chronic dieting. But it sure didn`t help that I was hiding who I was because who I really was was completely unacceptable, I mean there were no lesbian actresses in the history of acting, I had no real gay role models, it was a very tough time."

Later, when Ellen asked her how she could still finds thing wrong with her body when she weighed just 80 lbs, Portia - who speaks about her problems in her new autobiography `Unbearable Lightness` - admitted she knew she was underweight but still focused on her perceived flaws.

She said: "I looked in the mirror and I saw that I had very emaciated arms, I saw bones and I knew I was underweight, but my eye went to the inch of fat that I still had on my stomach and I went to my thighs, and it still does, that?s kind of what I do when I look in the mirror."

Portia clarified, however, that she is accepting of who she is and her figure today.

sections: Celebrities