Portia de Rossi On Her Painful Struggle With Bulimia: 'Just Horrible'

The "Scandal" star speaks out about facing an eating disorder.

ByABC News
May 13, 2015, 1:32 PM

— -- Portia de Rossi is opening up about her frightening struggle with an eating disorder as a young model.

The "Scandal" star speaks out in an interview on the second season of the web series "It Got Better," telling emotional details of her past as she suffered with bulimia.

"I felt tremendous responsibility when I was 12 years old, and I was put up on a catwalk," de Rossi said in the clip on Entertainment Tonight. "My modeling agents had told me to go on a diet. So I didn't eat for 10 days before then. "And then I get up on this catwalk, and I'm a little kid and I'm posing and trying to be sexy and strutting around and all the other models are making fun of my bushy eyebrows."

As de Rossi, 42, bravely reveals her fight against bulimia, she recalls the pain.

"Erase the feelings with food, erase the food by vomiting, but you still went left with the shame. It makes me emotional just thinking about that day," she added. "Ugh, it's just horrible."

Inspired by the "It Gets Better Project," "It Got Better" shares LGBT celebrities' stories of personal struggle and success.

The second season of the docuseries will also feature celebrities like RuPaul, Nate Berkus and author Janet Mock.