"Fear is rooted in a deep sense of shame about who you are, how badly you don't live up to your or others' expectations," says Yardley Smith of living with bulimia.

Simpsons star Yardley Smith talks about living with an eating disorder for more than two decades and how she is coping.

Smith, who voiced Lisa Simpson after the animated series premiered in 1989, appeared on the final episode of the Allison Interviews podcast and shared how her inner "quest for perfection" had affected her body image.

She went to a UCLA outpatient facility for 13 months and participated in eight-hour "group therapy" each week. There, she and the other participants were instructed to eat together, "which of course hurts when you have an eating disorder. My particular tendency is bulimia," said Smith. They also have to do "something social" every weekend. "Eating disorders are very isolating, and you take your disorder personally," says Smith. "It's very ritualistic. Very secretive, not as social as drinking. Not to mention that one is worse than the other, just different..."

His turning point came when he was 39 years old and had been in therapy for years. However, he refuses to reach his 40s, "still drinking and puking my brain."

"So I grabbed my socks and said, 'OK, I need some real help.' I tell to myself, "I can do this alone forever. I can't, so I need help."

"It was probably a few years or three before I was terrified of food. Now I feel like the food is delicious. I'm not afraid of food. But, some foods cause me to stay away from them."

Smith said he believed during the fight that he "didn't deserve anything good."