'It's how I'm wired': Emma Stone talks crippling anxiety

Emma Stone opens up about suffering anxiety. Photo / Getty

Emma Stone has opened up about her lifelong struggle with anxiety and the therapy that helped her overcome it.

In an article from Daily Mail, the 28-year-old actress, who is nominated for an Oscar for her role in this year's box office smash La La Land, talks to The Hollywood Reporter about her path to fame and the crippling shyness that could easily have stopped her in her tracks.

A young Emma Stone when she first moved to Hollywood. Photo / Getty

'It's just the way I'm wired' Emma admitted as she recalled being a nervous child and her parents putting her into therapy from the age of seven to conquer her panic attacks.

The actress flourished at her youth theatre classes after school enjoying stepping into different characters and improv comedy.

'I think my parents saw that acting was the thing that made me fulfilled and happy,' she said.

Actress Emma Stone and dad Jeff Stone. Photo / Getty

It was part of the reason why her mother and father allowed her to quit school and move to Hollywood at such a young age.

Emma convinced her parents to let her move to Los Angeles from her home in Arizona after she had an epiphany during class one day when she was 14.

'I think my parents saw that acting was the thing that made me fulfilled and happy,' Emma stuns in a photoshoot accompanying the interview

She ran home and produced a Powerpoint presentation she titled 'Project Hollywood.'

'It's nuts that they agreed to it,' Emma admitted. 'I don't condone it. Everybody should go through high school and graduate.'

Actress Emma Stone in 2007. Photo / Getty

In California, Emma would be home-schooled in-between auditions but her big break didn't come until she was 19, when she landed a role in Superbad opposite Jonah Hill.

However, as soon as the job offers started rolling in, Emma started to feel panicky as she explained to THR: 'I started to feel overwhelmed by the energy of Hollywood,'

She said she felt too surrounded by people who would only talk about the entertainment industry.

But things were just as bad on the east coast, as she recalled 'Losing my anonymity after Easy A, it was like being 7 years old all over again,'

She added: 'It terrified me.'

And despite finding fame over 10 years ago, Emma admits she still struggles with parts of her job with the chance of a panic attack 'always looming in the background.'

She explained: 'Before any interview, I have to sit with myself for five minutes and breathe and get centred because I get so nervous.

'Interviews are kind of like therapy, except all your answers are being written down and printed. I always want to be on the other side of it. I don't want to be deconstructed for millions. I'd rather do the deconstructing.'

Actress Emma Stone (R) and her mum Krista Stone. Photo / Getty

It was at the suggestion Superbad producer Judd Apatow, that Emma first started dying her hair its trademark ruby hue.

The Crazy, Stupid, Love star said she is 'honoured' that La La Land received 14 Oscar nominations including one for herself in the Best Actress in a Lead Role category for her starring role as Mia in the romantic musical.

She told the magazine: 'That kind of stuff is amazing and an honour and very crazy, but it's something that I can get into too much of a tizzy about. Although I did have a day in October when I got myself really freaked out.'