Sam Claflin shares that he battled with body dysmorphia

Sam Claflin suffered a form of body dysmorphia because of the "pressure" he felt to achieve the perfect Hollywood physique.

The Hunger Games star admits he never saw himself as a "leading man" when he embarked on an acting career and he felt like he had to go to extremes to get in shape to fit in among his peers.

He told The Telegraph newspaper: "I was always really short until I was 18, so I never thought of myself in any way as a leading man ...

"I assumed I’d become a character actor. When I was cast in Pirates [Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides], I thought: 'What on earth am I doing here?' ...

"There is this Hollywood assumption that it’s the men with the six packs who sell the movie. So there was a pressure that that was what I needed to look like.

"As a result, I developed a form of body dysmorphia. It wasn’t quite an eating disorder, and I’m not blaming anyone but myself, but it was definitely because of the industry I’m in."

Sam went on to insist he's become much better at talking about his feelings as he's grown up and he eventually realised he wanted to prioritise having a family over his Hollywood career.

The actor - who has two children with his ex-wife Laura Haddock - added: "We’re men and we are not allowed to talk about our feelings.

"But I’ve got much better. These days, I’m definitely not afraid of speaking about how I feel. And I also realised I didn’t want a career in Hollywood. I wanted to come home and become a dad."

Sam previously admitted he pushed himself too far in a "desperate" to be nominated for an Oscar.

He told GQ Hype: “I went through a stage of desperately vying for an Oscar but doing things that were really not me. Physically, emotionally transforming myself.

"[2018 film The Nightingale] was too far the other way. I think that was the turning point in my life. I don’t think I could do that again.”

However, Sam realised his acting career and vying for awards masked deeper issues.

He said: “One of the reasons I became an actor is that I always want people to like me. I think it’s only recently dawned on me that I try so hard to make other people happy that I don’t know who I am.

"I’m from Norfolk [in the UK] but I’ve just adopted an accent that no one can really put a flag on. It’s an amalgamation of other people’s accents. Over time I’d sort of lost, I don’t know … What makes me happy?"