Raven Symoné said she needed time to breathe when she made the decision to briefly walk away from acting at just 29 years old.

A working actress and a regular on TV sets since the age of 3, the star told People magazine, "I needed a break. I just needed to grow up."

It's not that Symoné doesn't remember or appreciate all the fun times -- there were just moments when she simply longed to have a normal childhood.

"I hated filming on Fridays," she said. "I was, like, 'I don't want to work. I want to [go home and] watch 'Family Matters.'"

But as her star status continued to rise, Symoné remembers only feeling more constrained. "That's So Raven" broke Disney Channel ratings records and as she found even greater success on film and on the music charts with the "Cheetah Girl" the burden of maintaining her "Disney girl" image only became heavier to bear.

"I remember on one show they were, like, 'Stay in the box we created for you,'" she said. "I was, like, 'Shoot me in the face.'"

After 2012's Broadway role in "Sister Act," which played to rave reviews, Raven Symoné had finally had enough.

"I realized there had been a plan for me since I was a baby," she said. "There was a bucket list that I didn't create, but I just kept checking things off. So I added, 'I want to be the youngest person in my world to retire.'"

But knowing she still had to "pay the bills," it wasn't long before she again started dabbling in cinema. She began taking on projects that allowed her to work with friends -- including a role on "Empire," which stars her pal Jussie Smollett and her partner AzMarie Livingston.

Before long, came the co-host role on "The View" that she has held down since last month.

"I've done a lot of things in my life that I've just had to smile through," she said. "But now, I'm living life for myself."