Hilary Swank nearly died shooting Million Dollar Baby

Hilary Swank has confessed she nearly died while shooting her latest film.The Oscar-winning beauty revealed she developed potentially fatal blood poisoning after undergoing a rigorous training programme for forthcoming boxing movie 'Million Dollar Baby'. She said: "I first got the infection when I popped blisters in the bathtub. The poison got into my blood stream and I noticed these red streaks marks going up my leg as it spread. I didn't pop them after that. "I was in a bad way. It got to the point that where I couldn't walk. "The doctor told me that if it reached my heart that would be it." Meanwhile, the Hollywood star, who is being tipped for her second Oscar for the fighting film, revealed she endured three months of intensive physical training to prepare for the role and prove to director Clint Eastwood that she was up to the part.The 30-year-old star says she spent five hours in the gym each day for three months and radically overhauled her diet in a bid to transform her physique -and even got up in the night to maintain her food intake.

She said in an interview with Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper: "My job was to do my best to look like a boxer.

"I had to eat about 210 grams of protein a day, so I'd drink egg whites and protein shakes and flax oil.

"I'd even have to wake up in the night top drink another protein shake because I needed to build muscle and I couldn't go that long without eating."