Michelle Pfeiffer has revealed how she was once in a cult that believed humans could exist only on sunlight.

Pfeiffer, the star of “Dangerous Liaisons” and “Batman Returns,” said she became involved in the cult when she first began her Hollywood career.

Run by a “very controlling” couple who believed in breatharianism — the belief humans can survive without food or water — the cult put the actor on a strict diet she said “nobody can adhere to.”

Pfeiffer, 55, told Britain’s Sunday Telegraph she only realized what she was part of when she met her first husband, the actor Peter Horton, who was researching the Moonies, a quasi-Christian group regarded by some as a cult organization, for a movie role.

“We were talking with an ex-Moonie and he was describing the psychological manipulation and I just clicked,” she said in the interview.

Pfieffer, who moved to Los Angeles when she was 20, described the couple as “kind of personal trainers.”

“I wasn’t living with them but I was there a lot and they were always telling me I needed to come more. I had to pay for all the time I was there, so it was financially very draining.”

Breatharianism has attracted controversy after it has been linked to several deaths, including a woman who died in the Scottish Highlands after a period of prolonged fasting.

Pfeiffer, who was talking to the paper ahead of the release of her latest film, “The Family,” also denied having plastic surgery although she admitted the process of aging was difficult.

“The loss of youth, the loss of beauty – it definitely plays havoc with your psyche,” she said.

Pfeiffer has two children with her husband, the TV producer David Kelley.

This story originally appeared on News.com.au.