Lupita Nyong'o has revealed that her diet was once so poor that she gave herself scurvy - which caused her gums to bleed and separate from her teeth.
The actress, 41, recalled the 'terrifying' ordeal during an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show on Wednesday, revealing she was too embarrassed to seek medical help and instead managed to cure herself by drinking orange juice.
Lupita was struck down with the condition - a rare disease caused by a deficiency of vitamin C - when she was just 16 and had been sent to Mexico by her parents to learn Spanish.
Speaking to musician Kelly, 42, she said: 'I had to cook for myself. I went for so long without eating essential things like vitamin C.
'I'm pretty sure I got scurvy at some point. My gums started separating from my teeth. They were bloody.
Lupita Nyong'o has revealed that she once suffered with scurvy due to a vitamin C deficiency
The actress, 41, was struck down with the condition when she was just 16 and had been sent to Mexico by her parents to learn Spanish (pictured with Kelly Clarkson)
'It was really scary, but I was too scared to go to the doctor I learned about scurvy because in the second World War, the Navy in America had contracted scurvy and I learned that in school.'
Lupita, who is dating Joshua Jackson following her split from Selema Masekela last year, continued: 'The cure was to drink orange juice, so I went to the market and bought a whole bunch of orange juice.'
'I think I diagnosed myself and cured myself,' she added.
Scurvy used to be a common curse among sailors who went months without fresh produce.
Overcooking vegetables can destroy the nutrient as it escapes the produce and seeps into the water instead, experts say.
Being deficient in the nutrient can lead to defective formation of collagen and connective tissues.
This in turn is known to cause bruising, bleeding gums, blood spots in the skin, joint pain and impaired wound healing.
Common foods that keep scurvy at bay include oranges, strawberries, and broccoli.
'I think I diagnosed myself and cured myself,' she added, revealing that she overcame the deficiency by drinking orange juice
The actress (pictured when she was younger) said she diagnosed herself after learning how the Navy had contracted scurvy during the second World War
Born in Mexico and raised in Kenya, Lupita returned to Mexico as a teen for seven months to learn Spanish before moving to Nairobi to study for a diploma and later the US where she graduated from Hampshire College with a degree in film and theatre studies.
She went on to land her breakthrough role in Steve McQueen's historical drama 12 Years a Slave, which won her the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 2014.
Lupita was on Wednesday's show to promote her new film, A Quiet Place: Day One, in which she stars alongside Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff, and Djimon Hounsou.
The movie - a prequel to 2018’s A Quiet Place - is set in The Big Apple, which 'comes under attack from an alien invasion,' leaving 'a woman and other survivors trying to find a way to safety.'
Teasing the film, Lupita told Kelly: ‘We thought it was really an innovative way to tell a story, to make everyone quiet and to make sounds like the enemy.
‘The stakes are so high.
'It was really fun to get into this and it's a different sort of story.
‘Definitely expanding with this universe can do to come up with this story and really looking forward to people seeing it.’
A Quiet Place: Day One hits cinemas across the country on June 27
