Zoe Saldana: I Nearly Had a Mental Breakdown After Avatar

USMagazine, Monday, August 8, 2011, 9:51am (PDT)

Being one of the most in-demand actresses in Hollywood isn't always easy.

In the September issue of Latina, 33-year-old Zoe Saldana admits she nearly had a mental breakdown following the success of 2009's record-breaking blockbuster "Avatar."

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"The year after 'Avatar' was just emotionally overwhelming. I was traveling all over the world, waking up in different time zones," the actress says. "Your body gets exhausted, and by the end of the year I just collapsed."

The actress's nonstop work schedule continued to take its toll when she began training for "Colombiana" in Paris. "I was sitting in my hotel room, and I couldn't stop crying. I couldn't stay awake. I must have slept for an entire month," Saldana says.

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"It took me the rest of the year, even as I was working and shooting 'Colombiana,' to pick myself up. Thank God my family was there."

These days, Saldana -- currently engaged to Keith Britton -- says she lives a much more relaxed lifestyle.

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"I just stay at home and do absolutely nothing. When I was younger, that would have made me feel like such a failure. Now that I'm older, I know what it means to shut down," she says. "I don't shower if I don't want to. I don't answer emails. It's a healthy way of being selfish. You know you're old when gardening, the Food Network and voice notes from your nieces and nephews blow your mind."

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