Angelina Jolie admits to depression
And though the 33-year-old has since managed to overcome her demons, she insists she is happy she went public with her struggle - because she believes discussing her own experiences has helped other victims.
"The reason I talked about going through certain pains of even cutting myself is that I was already out the other side," Contactmusic quoted her, as saying. "I knew there were people who did that, and were happy somebody admitted they did and discussed how they got out of it. I don't see the point of doing an interview unless you're going to share the things you learn in life and the mistakes you make.
"So to admit I'm extremely human and have done some dark things, I don't think makes me unusual or unusually dark. I think it is the right thing to do and I'd like to think it's the nice thing to do," she added.