Saldana: 'I didn't suffer breakdown'

Actress Zoe Saldana has hit back at reports she suffered a mental breakdown after filming Avatar, insisting comments she made to a magazine have been misconstrued.

The sexy star told Latina magazine that the promotion and success of the sci-fi epic took its toll on her physically and emotionally, admitting she burst into tears in a Paris hotel and couldn't control her sobbing.

She told the publication, "The year after Avatar was just emotionally overwhelming. I was travelling all over the world, waking up in different time zones. Your body gets exhausted, and by the end of the year I just collapsed.

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

But now she's backtracking a little, insisting she didn't suffer a breakdown and the tears were tears of joy.

Appearing on Access Hollywood Live on Friday (26Aug11), Saldana said, "It was definitely misconstrued, the statement that I made... It was such a beautiful rollercoaster and we (Avatar cast and crew) had no idea we were gonna break records on so many levels and that this movie... was gonna touch so many hearts from all over the world.

"We started the whole world tour and you're expelling so much energy, so that by the time the awards season was over... my body just needed to relax. It was kind of like shutting down.

"It was such an emotional thing and I do know that everybody from, like, the director, the producer and the rest of the cast... went away with their families afterwards and they kinda hid for a while because you needed to refuel. There was no nervous breakdown... It was just a beautiful journey that exhausted me."