Amanda Seyfried says she has stopped “having expectations” because she has had her heart broken too many times before.

The 24-year-old actress never lets herself think about the future because she has found that even a “tiny spark of expectation” can leave her devastated when things don’t turn out the way she had planned. She now just “jumps into” things without considering them so she isn’t “intimidated” by the prospect of failure.

“I never have expectations anymore. I stopped having expectations as a teenager because of, you know, heartbreak. And disappointment,” she explained. “I’m intimidated so much of the time. And I’ve learned that even a tiny spark of expectation, is so wrong.

“You just have to go into whatever is. But I end up being too intimidated. So I just came in with that attitude. I just didn’t want to be intimidated. Because it hinders me so much.”

Amanda can next be seen in upcoming romantic comedy Letters to Juliet, which is about an American student who finds love during a holiday to Italy. The film also stars Mexican heartthrob Gael Garcia Bernal and Vanessa Redgrave and their involvement made Amanda desperate to sign up.

“It’s funny; it’s not the type of movie I would normally want to do because it’s pretty broad, and light,” she explained to Irish film website movies.ie. “But it became so much more for me, especially after Vanessa Redgrave signed on. Even though it’s just this romantic movie.”