Hollyoaks star Angus Castle-Doughty has revealed he's secret battled an eating disorder and body dysmorphia for five years, after stripping naked for his role in a Netflix show.

The actor, 29, starred as villainous incel Eric Forster in the Channel 4 soap, and has now shared how he developed an 'obsession' with food and exercise after being asked to film a nude scene in the 2019 series Shadow And Bone.

Despite never being told he needed to lose weight, Angus told The Mirror that he was determined to acheive zero per cent body fat, and began skipping breakfast and going to the gym twice a day, only for his nude scene to be cut from the show.

Speaking about his disorder for the first time, he said: 'Up until recently, I felt like I had failed myself if I wasn't thin and in doing so, I've denied myself many memories I could have enjoyed because of my obsession with food and exercise.'

Angus explained that after writing a fictional film, titled Dis-Morph-Ick, about his experience, he's finally changed the way he perceives his body, and credited his partner, former Hollyoaks star Niamh Blackshaw, for offering her support.

The actor explained that he struggled with 'insecurities' when he was told he'd have to film a nude scene for Shadow And Bone. 

He said: 'It wasn't an insecurity of ''oh I am going to get naked on camera'', it was more I wanted to do everything I possibly could do to work as hard as possible for the role.'

Angus threw himself into a gruelling fasting diet, eating only two meals a day, and going to the gym twice a day, six a times a week, in the lead-up to filming. 

He added: 'Nobody at Netflix or the show asked me to change. It was me who got it into my head that I had to lose the weight. I managed to get down to 6% body fat (even though I was probably only on about 10%t to start with) when I went into filming the scene. But the irony is they then didn't use it anyway!'

Even after he wrapped filming on Shadow And Bone, Angus continued with his punishing new diet, eating just 1500 calories a day, despite warnings from his mother Lynne, who was former ballet dancer.

In August 2020, Angus began to ease his regime, but became insecure about his appearance when he landed the role of Eric on Hollyoaks.

As filming meant he was unable to exercise as much, the actor admitted he felt like he'd 'failed' when he saw himself on cameram, and struggled to quit his regime even after he left the soap in 2023.

Two weeks ago, Angus said he finally began eating breakfast again, and while he still exercises, it's no longer twice a day.

He has now revealed he plans to a launch a crowdfunder to raise the funds needed to make his short film, which will tell the story of a young man who gets sucked into the fitnes world. 

Angus says his film is still 'a work in progress' but that writing it has been a healing experience.

The soap star made headlines with his role as incel Eric on Hollyoaks, tormenting Maxine Minniver and threatening attacks on other women in the village, due to his warped misohynistic views. 

It was reported earlier this year that due to cuts at Channel 4, a number of changes were on the way including less episodes of Hollyoaks per week, all at a shorter time. 

With the changes came the sad news that jobs would be cut, with cast and crew axed. A number of fan favourites have left the soap, with Stephanie Waring, Ross Adams and Emma Rigby being some of the big names set to leave the show.

The soap has planned a dramatic time jump a year into the future to apparently explain some of the exits, after reports up to 20 characters would be leaving the village.

It was revealed in May that Hollyoaks had become the latest soap to be hit by stringent budget cuts, with show bosses planning to reduce the workforce by 40 per cent.

It's also been teased a massive stunt will air prior to the time jump, and before the new era of the show begins.

Earlier this year Hollyoaks boss Hannah Cheers said of the changes: 'When we started talking about the move to three episodes a week, we realised we needed a mechanism through which to transition our stories and characters and we kept coming back to this one. It's bold, daring and is a first for a UK soap; it sums Hollyoaks up perfectly.

'The new three episode pattern offers us a different model of storytelling, which means we'll see characters on screen for much longer.

'Our viewers are really smart; in order to serve them well we need to kick off this new structure in a meaningful way. Fast-forwarding the show permanently by a year presents us with unlimited story possibilities.

'Very sadly, we are going to have to say goodbye to some much-loved Hollyoaks villagers and some earlier than we would have expected to.

'It's not kind to our characters or our audience to have a drawn-out stream of goodbyes on screen and a heightened stunt didn't feel like the right approach.

'We also want the flexibility to see favourite characters again and we got really excited about how this would work.'