LOS ANGELES — Amanda Seyfried has learned to embrace taking on nude roles despite a small-town upbringing that often frowned upon sex.
"We have to be open-minded," the 24-year-old actress, who grew up in Allentown, Pa., tells Britain's Daily Telegraph. "I'm not saying Americans are narrow-minded – I've lived in New York and LA – but where I grew up ... there was a small-town mindset that made me feel that sex was somehow wrong."
Seyfried, who was required to show plenty of skin for her role on HBO's Big Love, said it took a long time for her to understand the value of intimacy.
'I remember I had a fight with my friend when I touched a boy for the first time and I didn't tell her. She got mad with me, not because I didn't tell her but because I'd done it in the first place," she recalls. "When my sister lost her virginity I thought that was dirty and disgusting, and I was scared of sex.
"Intimacy is a wonderful thing. It's frustrating that growing up I thought it was wrong. It isn't. Exploring your sexuality is important when you're growing up."
While Seyfried has become more open, she does admit to being frightened one time as she watched one of her steamy Big Love scenes surrounded by family.
"I was sitting there watching and all of a sudden it cut to a scene where two people are having sex, and it's me! Having sex! I just thought, 'No, no, no!' " she recalls in horror. "It was so much more graphic than I remembered. I was horrified."
Also see: Amanda Seyfried Pictures
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