The 25-year-old actress said the criticism she faced following her public romance and break-up with Robert Pattinson made her stronger in life, reported Marie Claire magazine.
"I lit my universe on fire and I watched it burn. Speaking very candidly, it was a really traumatic period in my early twenties that kick-started something in me that was a bit more... Feral. The public kind of burned me at the stake. But that's OK, I can take it. I'm not dead," she said.
"All of a sudden, it wasn't cool to be one of the boys anymore. (Suddenly it was), 'Kristen's not a girl. What is she?' And I just died. It was a totally cliched, very real insecure breakdown moment, when I was like, 'I hate myself'.
"So many people say, 'Oh, it must have been so easy for you'. You think because I'm an actor that I didn't have a normal progression of self-hatred? When I was younger, I really wanted to be with the adults, to be addressed as a grown-up. I was the most open, forthcoming, confident little kid. I'm still trying to get back to that," she said,
"Between ages 15 and 20, it was really intense. I was constantly anxious. I was kind of a control freak. If I didn't know how something was going to turn out, I would make myself ill, or just be locked up or inhibited in a way that was really debilitating.