Former US gymnastics star Alexandra Raisman has revealed she suffers with OCD.

The 26 year-old is the third-most decorated Olympic gymnast in American history and has three gold medals to her name and is the two-time world champion.

After retiring in January this year, she has spoken about her struggles off the floor publicly for the first time. 

She said: “I always thought OCD was I have to touch this x amount of times or I have to do this x amount of times before I leave the room but I've also learned that OCD is classified with ruminating thoughts or obsessive thoughts or catastrophic thinking.

“I have that and I'm really trying to work on that right now because sometimes our minds go to our worst-case scenario.”

But she added that she is working on educating herself on ‘how our minds work’.

“I feel like for people who don't understand it, they're like, ‘Just don't think about it.' It does not work like that!

“It's so hard because I've been trying to really educate myself on how our minds work just so I can help myself but also just so I can better talk about it and better understand it on a personal level with my family or my friends but also on a public level as well,” she told Dax Shepard on Armchair Expert. 

Afterwards the star wrote on Instagram that it was the most ‘honest’ and ‘vulnerable’ interview she has done.

She said: "My favorite interview I’ve done! I think I was the most vulnerable & honest in this interview. I talked about a few things I’ve never shared publicly before.

“If you can relate to some things I struggle with I hope it helps you in some way & I hope you remember you’re not alone.”