Flockhart: 'eating disorder rumours damaged my career'

Calista Flockhart is still angry about the eating disorder rumours which plagued her after she shot to fame, insisting the untrue stories damaged her career and led to a bout of depression.

The actress shot to stardom in the late 1990s playing a ditzy lawyer in hit TV show Ally McBeal, but her super-slender frame made her the target of gossip columnists who speculated about her weight.

Flockhart has always denied suffering from an eating disorder, and admits the nasty rumours nearly forced her out of acting for good.

She says, "I still weigh exactly what I did back then. I've always been thin. I have small bones. It (rumours of an eating disorder) was horrible, completely out of control. It didn't matter what I did, if I ordered food or not... I tried to ignore it, but I'm sure it was damaging to my career. I became depressed. I thought, 'Well, this can't help me get a job' - nobody wants to hire someone who has a problem."