Movie star Florence Pugh has discussed her childhood illness and the pressure to be slim ahead of her starring role in the next Marvel blockbuster.

Ms Pugh, whose father Clinton owns Cafe Coco, Kazbar and Cafe Tarifa in Oxford, stars in Black Widow alongside Scarlett Johansson which is released this week.

The superhero film is based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name and is set after Captain America: Civil War with Avenger Natasha Romanoff (Johansson) on the run and forced to confront her past. Ms Pugh plays her "sister figure" Yelena Belova.

Ms Pugh, who was nominated for an Oscar for Little Women, became an indie darling after starring in Midsommar, a creepy folk/horror film set in Sweden described as 'trippy', in which she appeared in a robe and floral headdress.

She said some of her drive may have come from the fact she suffered from tracheomalacia as a child.

“I hated being the kid that ‘couldn’t do it’,” she told The Sunday Times Style magazine.

She also discussed being told to lose weight for a TV show.

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“I was a baby and I thought that was Hollywood,” she said. “And I thought, OK, this is how it works here… and then I felt stupid because I thought, well, of course, how could I come to LA and not have expected to have my weight discussed in a meeting?”

Ms Pugh, 25, who went to a private school in Oxford, also talked about the horrible comments she has received on social media over her relationship with Scrubs star turned acclaimed writer and director Zach Braff, who is 46.

She said: “I think it bugs people that it’s not who they expected,” she said but added: "I'm not doing anything to please people."

Ms Pugh is the third of four children, with sisters Arabella and Rafaela and brother Sebastian who performs as Toby Sebastian.

Earlier this year she helped him out by singing on his new single Midnight.

Ms Pugh was back at the family home off Cowley Road when her brother suggested she join in.

Singer and actor Sebastian, who has appeared in Game of Thrones, said: "The timing was wonderful - we could never have planned it.”

He told the BBC: "I left the studio and when I got home Flo was back. I hadn't seen her for a long time because of Covid and it was just amazing to all be together.

"My mum asked 'have you played her the song? Don't you fancy some backing vocals from your sister?'

"Although I hadn't even thought about it, something about it felt right, totally in the moment and organic."