Shailene Woodley has been in ''an open relationship''.

The 28-year-old actress -who stars in new movie 'Endings Beginnings' about a woman torn between dating two best friends - revealed she has experience of both open and monogamous relationships and believes people should be free to love whoever they want.

She told The New York Times: ''Listen, I'm someone who has experienced both an open relationship and a deeply monogamous relationship in my life, and I think we're in a day and age where there should be no rules except for the ones designed by two people in a partnership -- or three people, whatever floats your boat! But there has to be a level of responsibility in any relationship dynamic, and that responsibility is simply honesty and communication and trust. Apart from that, it's really none of our business what people choose to do with their lives.

''We're societally conditioned to assume that one person can be our end-all, be-all. The idea of being with someone ... is it only because you've fallen in love with that person, or because there's a newness to understanding yourself because of what that person can offer you?

The 'Big Little Lies' actress explained that relationships have been on her mind, even though she is happily single after her longterm romance with rugby player Ben Volavola ended.

She said: ''This is a concept I've been thinking about often right now, because I'm very much single and I've chosen to be single for a while.''

The new movie has also made Shailene consider her past relationships and she revealed she had been in an abusive relationship when she was younger.

She said: ''In my late teens, I had a strong idea of my identity and the meaning of my life, but then I went through an abusive relationship. That combined with, honestly, the commercial success I had in this industry began to wear on my strength. My 20s felt a little bit like being in a washing machine, where you're being thrown all over the place.''