Olivia Cooke is opening up about a difficult day on the set ofThe Girlfriend— during which she nearly fainted due to not eating before a nude scene.

The 31-year-old actress, who plays Cherry in the Prime Video thriller series that premiered in September, opened up about filming her nude scenes and worrying about her body image, to the point that she skipped a meal, causing her to almost pass out.

“It’s so hard not to feel insecure when only yourself and your partner and your doctor see you like that,” Cooke told theSunday Timesin a story published on Saturday, Dec. 6.

According to Cooke, she opted not to eat breakfast before one nude scene, only for the schedule to shift and the scene to be pushed later in the day.

“I felt like I was gonna faint … I was like, ‘I’m not doing this any , no way. Give me a croissant!’ ” she recalled.

TheHouse of the Dragonalum stars inThe Girlfriend (under the direction of costar Robin Wright) as a scheming social climber who aims to seduce a naive trust fund heir, against his mother’s wishes.

Cooke spoke candidly about her fears surrounding weight and body image, telling theTimesthat she has been afraid of “my weight (and) my cellulite traveling further down my legs.”

The actress has combated those fears by deleting social media platforms like Instagram off of her phone.

“To not be inundated with endlessly shrinking bodies has been a relief. I don’t think I’ve ever navel-gazed that hard about my own body until now,” she said. “Not to blame this on the patriarchy, but it does just feel like another way to suppress women (and) make them even anxious and scared about just being in a bigger body.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Elsewhere in her conversation with theTimes,the British-born star opened up about suffering a mental breakdown when she was 22, sharing that she had “panic attacks every day for three weeks,” followed by an OCD diagnosis and long-lasting intrusive thoughts.

“Your twenties are such a chaotic, topsy-turvy time, where you’re desperately trying to act like an adult, but your frontal lobe is just flapping in the wind,” she shared. “… I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. It was like you’re being tortured from within.”

“I don’t want to be too dramatic,” she added, noting that she kept certain issues to herself for a period, “but it got to the point where I was, like, ‘I don’t want to be here any .’”

According to Cooke, acting was a welcome reprieve from her struggles with mental health.

“Between action and cut, that was like heaven,” she shared.

Things eventually settled in 2020, when she moved back to the U.K. after working as an actress in the U.S. for years.

“I felt centred and grounded,” Cooke said of her time in England, recalling how she spent time in her hometown of Oldham with childhood acting friends. “I just needed to be a kid again, in a way.”

Season 1 ofThe Girlfriendis now streaming on Prime Video.

If you or someone you know needs mental health help, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.