Hilary Swank had a lonely childhood

Hilary had a lonely childhood as her classmates were banned to play with her.

Los Angeles: Hilary Swank had a lonely childhood reading and watching movies as her classmates were banned by their parents to play with her. The `Million Dollar Baby` star who grew up in a trailer park in Washington and was shunned by her classmates because their parents didn`t want them socialising with someone from a poor background, Cosmopolitan magazine reported.

"I grew up feeling like an outsider because we had no money, so I understood `classism` at a young age. A lot of parents didn`t want their kids playing with me, even though the kids didn`t care," Swank said. The 35-year-old star spent most of her free time reading and watching movies, where the characters became the closest thing she had to friends. "Because I experienced that, my friends became characters in books or movies. That`s what I could relate to. The first three movies I remember watching - `The Elephant Man`, `The Miracle Worker` and `The Wizard of Oz` - were all about outsiders facing adversity," Swank said. PTI