Portia de Rossi Opens Up About Anorexic Past

Portia de Rossi is finally ready to discuss her history with anorexia. The actress, 37, who has just written a book about her experience, Unbearable Lightness, will appear on The Oprah Winfrey Show on Monday to discuss her unhappy past.

"It wasn't that I was proud of it," she said. "But it was certainly a recognition for my self-control. I definitely had some pretty amazing willpower to get down to 82 pounds. And that's what I was holding onto to. I didn't think about anything else." The Australian actress told Oprah that her weight issues arose when she came to America to work on Ally McBeal. " I would prefer to die than fail another diet," she said of her attitude then.

According to the Daily Mail, she took 20 laxatives a day at the height of her illness, hiding her problems from her friends and co-workers. Though she is now openly and happily married to talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, de Rossi kept her homosexuality a secret as well for some time. The two met in 2001 and married in 2008. "Ellen saw a glimpse of my inner being from underneath the flesh and bone, reached in and pulled me out," she wrote in Unbearable Lightness. "Ellen has taught me not to care about other people's opinions."

The actress has since recovered from her illness, and will release her book on November 1. –AMY LEE