In one of her most vulnerable interviews yet, Emma Roberts shared that before falling pregnant, she'd been diagnosed with endometriosis, and had made the "difficult decision" to freeze her eggs.

Chatting with friend and American author Stephanie Danler in Cosmopolitan, in a lengthy profile spread, the 29-year-old said she'd long suffered from "debilitating cramps and periods", but that her male doctor hadn't looked into it. 

"In my late 20s, I just had a feeling I needed to switch to a female doctor," she said. "It was the best decision. She ran tests, sent me to a specialist." It was then that Roberts discovered she had endometriosis, a disorder in which tissue that normally lines the uterus grows outside the uterus and one that, if left untreated, can potentially result in infertility.

"Finally, there was validation that I wasn't being dramatic," she explained. "But by then, it had affected my fertility. I was told, 'You should probably freeze your eggs or look into other options.' I said, 'I'm working right now. I don't have time to freeze my eggs.' To be honest, I was terrified. Just the thought of going through that and finding out, perhaps, that I wouldn't be able to have kids… I did freeze my eggs eventually, which was a difficult process."

She went on to say that the diagnosis had "stunned" her and made her feel like she'd "done something wrong", but that by talking to other women about their fertility struggles, she'd seen she wasn't alone. 

"It sounds cheesy, but the moment that I stopped thinking about it, we [her and partner Garrett Hedlund] got pregnant," she said. "But even then, I didn't want to get my hopes up. Things can go wrong when you're pregnant. That's something you don't see on Instagram. So I kept it to myself, my family, and my partner, not wanting to make grand plans if it wasn't going to work out."

Also in the interview, Roberts spoke about how she's changed since her first grown-up filming gig at the ripe age of 19. "I think people to this day think I'm 19, even though I'm turning 30," she said. "I don't know if it's about growing up as Julia Roberts' niece or if it's because I've been doing this since I was so young that people see me as younger."

These days, she said she feels she can "have an opinion now" about her life and career, something she didn't always feel was possible, especially growing up as an actress. "It's about learning to pause and ask questions and not just let it be other people being like, 'This is a yes; this is a no'. It's about deciding for you."

The actress confirmed she and Garrett Hedlund were expecting back in August of this year, sharing a pic of herself holding her bump and another photo with Hedlund on Instagram with the caption: "Me… and my two favourite guys."

You can read the full interview here.