Selena Gomez suffered a "mini breakdown" on the set of her movie Spring Breakers as she struggled to cope with the attention her bad girl alter-ego attracted.

The 20-year-old former Disney star shows off her wild side in the film about clean-cut college students gone bad, and reveals filming party scenes turned into a stressful ordeal.

Gomez admits she felt intimidated by the attention of hundreds of fans and photographers who clambered to watch her strutting about in skimpy outfits for the saucy scenes.

She tells Britain's The Guardian, "I had a mini breakdown on set. There was too much attention, photographers, hundreds of fans, and all of us in bikinis in the pool. I got overwhelmed doing some of the things we were doing and having such an active audience at all times, even though I knew at heart we were super-safe."

The actress only felt able to continue after sharing a heart-to-heart chat with the film's director Harmony Korine.

Korine's wife Rachel says, "Harmony went over to her and said: 'This is really happening, this is you right at this moment,' and he encouraged her to use it, and from that moment on she imbued her character with a whole new extra dimension."