Julianne Hough - star of Dancing With The Stars - has revealed how she was abused as a child while training in London to become a dancer. 

In an interview with Cosmopolitan magazine, Hough divulged the difficult truths of her time in England. "While I was in London, I was abused mentally, physically, everything," said the actress, now 24. "I was a tormented little kid who had to put on this sexy facade because that was my job and my life," she added. "But my heart was the same, and I was this innocent little girl. I wanted so much love." Hough said the abuse became worse "when I started hitting puberty, when I started becoming a woman and stopped being a little girl." In her mid-twenties, and blossoming in her own career, her story represents the minority of children who manage to escape the psychological perils of abuse in later life. "I'm a very forgiving person, and I don't want to hurt anybody," she explained. "What's past is past."

Her admission adds to an increasingly bleak picture for child abuse in London. Since the hundreds of claims made against the late Jimmy Savile, causing a widespread investigation into the practise of entertainment institutions with regards to the safety of children.