Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Star has eating disorder
Findlay from ‘Downton Abbey’ talks about body issues
LONDON: As Lady Sybil Crawley, she was perhaps Downton Abbey’s most glamorous toff. But such selfpossession hasn’t come as easily to Jessica Brown Findlay, who played her.
The 27- year- old actress revealed this week that she has been hiding an eating disorder since she was 14 – and blamed the pressure on young people to conform to society’s ideas of beauty and success.
The former ballerina, who danced for a season with the Kirov Ballet at the Royal Opera House in London when she was just 15, said she hoped that admitting to her own issues would help others in the same boat, and called for “mature conversation” about depression.
She added: “I’m doing Hamlet, and it explores a lot about mental health, and... I’ve had an eating disorder since I was 14.
“We can feed certain ideas of what beauty is and what success is. There has to come a time where those aren’t the rules any more. Then we can have a mature conversation about what that is about, and about depression.”
Findlay said that keeping her eating disorder secret for so long had been an isolating experience.
“I felt so alone for so long, and I just hid. Then I started talking and held my head up and instead of saying sorry decided to tell myself that I matter. For a while, I really shied away from things.
“It’s about learning to stand up and say ‘this is me, and that’s OK’. I’m not going to be a better actor if I’m a dress size smaller. It’s nothing to do with my brain.”
Although Findlay did not specify which type of eating disorder she had struggled with, the actress said she had been in therapy, which made her appraise herself and decide that “I was going to help myself feel safe and good and healthy”.
She told the Daily Telegraph: “If you are lucky enough to speak and be heard, it might be useful to others. The more we have brave discussions like that, the easier it is to talk about things, and the less alone we can feel. It’s certainly made me feel less alone.”
Findlay gave up ballet at 19 as a result of problems with her ankles. She became an actress after taking classes while studying art at Central St Martins college in London.
She is also starring in the TV drama Harlots, about prostitution in London during the 18th century.
She said: “It is so rare that a piece like this gets made. It’s a feminist piece of work about sex in all its many forms. Just how volatile that world was for these women was something that felt really relevant. Women are still fighting for rights over their own bodies, for equality, and for a world in which these transactions – especially in the sex industry – can be safe.” – Daily Mail