Washington said the gruelling eight month shoot nearly sent her over the edge, reported Radar Online.

"I felt like if it had gone on a week longer, I would have lost my mind," said the actress, who plays Jamie Foxx's wife in the movie.

The actress asked her manager and her parents to visit her at the sets so she feels at ease.

"I usually never let my people come visit me on set because I think it's terribly distracting. I don't enjoy it but I asked them to come down because I was concerned for my sanity," she added.

Washington said during the movie shoot, she received real lashings from the actor playing her overseer. She also had to spend time in a "hot box" to get used to scenes in which her character, the slave Broomhilda, was imprisoned in an underground metal container.