Shailene Woodley was "strip searched" after protesting at the Standing Rock reservation last year.

The 25-year-old actress was among around 100 protesters who turned up to the construction site in October 2016 to speak out about the proposed pipeline plans, which aimed to transport crude oil from the North Dakota Bakken region through South Dakota and Iowa into Illinois, crossing the Missouri River, and threatened to disrupt 18 million people's drinking water.

And the Californian beauty has revealed she was forced to get naked, "spread [her] butt cheeks and bend over" for the officers to investigate whether she had smuggled drugs inside her nether regions.

Speaking about the whole ordeal to Marie Claire magazine, the 'Big Little Lies' actress said: "I was strip-searched. Like get naked, turn over, spread your butt cheeks, bend over. They were looking for drugs in my a**."

At the time, the 'Divergent' star was arrested on one count of misdemeanour criminal trespassing and one count of misdemeanour engaging in a riot, and the "trauma" of the event caused her to suffer depression.

She explained: "There was so much trauma. Mine was like, 'What do I do now?' Kind of like a little bit of depression."

Shailene, who set up the charity Up To Us with the assistance of her friends, has now encouraged anyone of any upbringing and education to make a difference and help their community.

She said: "There's a misconception that, in order to start a movement, you need to have gone to college, or have a 'name', or look a certain way. But you don't. We want to eradicate that narrative.

"Look at your wallet and recognise that every dollar you spend is either a vote towards the destruction of our planet or towards its empowerment.

"I was the weirdo girl in high school who tried to get everyone to recycle. It was weird at the time."