Luke Evans suffers "terrible anxiety" about his appearance.

The 45-year-old actor has admitted he struggles with body image issues and is plagued with self-doubt about the way he looks - admitting he often feels anxious when he's in the gym or looking in the mirror.

During an appearance on the 'How To Fail With Elizabeth Day' podcast, Luke explained: "Inside, I still sometimes go to the gym and just feel very anxious ...

"I look at myself in the mirror and just go: 'You don't look good enough' or you're letting it go'. I look at my face.

"The terrible part of my industry is that you're just reminded constantly of the decades of film you've done when you had not a crease on the face and not one grey stubble, whereas all my stubble is now grey."

'The Hobbit' actor went on to admit he would consider "letting it all go" if he didn't have to prepare his body for movie roles, saying: "If I didn't have to go and take my top off on a movie set every now and again, I'd probably let it all go."

He added of his struggles: "I've had to learn to be kinder to myself but I have terrible anxiety about feeling good enough physically.

"Part of that isn't completely bad, I think it gives you a little something to fight for but it can be overwhelming. I've been on a beach just recently and I didn't want to take my T-shirt off.

"I don't want to be in that place. I know I shouldn't feel like that, but you know we are sensitive creatures, we're very delicate. As hard as I may look, I am quite delicate."

Luke went on to admit he also struggles with his confidence and feels jealous of other men who make it look so "effortless".

He said: "I walk down the street or in a bar or in the gym and look at some guy and he's like super confident and I'm just like wow and it just seems effortless.

"When I do, it's a whole lot of work when I have to present that. I'm not massively confident about lots of things about me but I've learned to deal with it, not ignore it and understand why and process it but it doesn't go away."