Lily Collins says she safely lost weight for film ‘To The Bone’
A FORMER anorexic, Lily Collins lost a lot of weight for her role in Netflix film To The Bone. She looked so unwell that magazines didn’t want to photograph her.
PLAYING a young woman struggling with anorexia for the Netflix film To The Bone was always going to be challenging for Lily Collins, and more than a little close to home.
She battled an eating disorder in real life as a teenager, and was required to again lose weight for the movie.
She says she was committed to losing weight “safely” for the film, under supervision from a nutritionist.
“There was never a number in mind for the weight loss, no set goal for me. As an actor, you gain weight, you lose weight, you change your hair colour and you change yourself physically and emotionally for the different parts that you play,” she tells news.com.au.
“This was an opportunity for me to bring one of my life’s missions to more people. It’s important for people to come out and really talk about it,” she says earnestly.
“I wanted to pay homage to the 16 year old girl I was who was going through this [illness] by emotionally going back to that place, even if that took a physical change.”
“Everyone has a different form of recovery and everybody has a different experience with the disorder. In doing this movie, we wanted to do something that hopefully created empathy for people that didn’t necessarily know about it. It affects people of all different sizes and shapes,” she says.
“This is a conversation that is long overdue.”
Now that filming is over, she’s healthy, and happy about her appearance. “I recently did the cover of Shape magazine, which was a huge thing for me.
“Six to eight months ago, magazines didn’t want to put me on the cover or even inside because they didn’t want to put out a negative image, even though that they knew that I looked the way I did for this film. They really stood up to that, which I really thought was kind of commendable.”
Unlike many celebrities, Collins is not ashamed to express herself about the demons she’s battled. “Talking about it is really empowering. I feel strong in myself and it’s that shift in the idea that food is fuel and not punishment. It took me a while to get over this disorder but I managed to make the mental shift which isn’t always easy.”
She recalls this painful period of her life which jeopardised her health.
“After a while it was pretty obvious, to be honest. My friends, family, people at school all intervened. They said to me, ‘We know what’s going on; we’ve noticed what’s happening.’ At a certain point I couldn’t really kind of hide it anymore. So it was then that I had to decide what I was going to do.” She pauses. “And I chose recovery.”
Evidently, this is a subject close to her heart and she is determined to debunk the misconceptions surrounding it. “People think it only affects women which is definitely not the case. And there is also the idea that it’s a question of vanity, which is also not the case.
“It’s a real, mental illness that deals with so much more than just physicality. It’s never about not being thin enough, that’s not what it’s about,” she says, shaking her head.
“I hope that the movie is able to better explain this illness.”
Now that she’s conquered anorexia, how does she feel when she looks in the mirror?
“I’ve learned a lot. I realise that perfect doesn’t exist. So I never look in the mirror and think that I see perfect. I see happy and I see confident and I see goofy, I see strong and I see healthy.” She smiles.
“I now talk about how I feel as opposed to how I look which is more important and that is when you look your best. We need to focus on what’s inside.”
Although her battle is long gone, what would prompt her to become an advocate for anorexia?
“Well, I had a moment two years ago when I decided to talk about. It was because I realised that I was soon going to be 28 and I wanted a family. And if I want kids, then I don’t want to pass this stuff onto them. I want to deal with it, talk about it and maybe come to a greater understanding of it. And if not now, when?”
Originally published as Lily Collins says she safely lost weight for film ‘To The Bone’