DarkMode/LightMode
Light Mode

Troian Bellisario’s husband struggled to support her through eating disorder film

WENN_TroianBellisario_071917_1800x1200
WENN

Pretty Little Liars star Troian Bellisario’s husband found it difficult to support her new movie because she had to revisit her mental health problems from the past to play a troubled anorexic.

The actress, who battled the eating disorder in real life, wrote the screenplay for Feed and stars as a young woman haunted by the demanding ghost of her dead twin brother, played by Tom Felton.

In an open letter Bellisario wrote for Lena Dunham’s Lenny Letter blog earlier this week (beg17Jul17), the actress revealed she battled an ever-present voice in her head, which convinced her she shouldn’t consume more than 300 calories a day, at the height of her anxiety battle several years ago, and she tells Entertainment Tonight she can understand why her husband Patrick J. Adams found it difficult to get behind the film project.

- Advertisement -

“It was challenging (for him),” the 31-year-old explains. “He met me right after I wrote this film. He didn’t know me then, so when he read it, he said, ‘The illness is very upsetting, and I don’t know if I really want to support you walking back into it’.

“Then ultimately, and in having the conversation with him, (he said), ‘If this is something that we can create a conversation around and I can help, OK… but I just want to let you know that I’m going to hold your hand in the fire, but when you walk back out of this, you’re coming back to me. You’re reinvesting in your health. I’m not going to see you put yourself through this, only to fall back into it again’.”

Bellisario lost weight to prepare for her role in Feed, which she also produced, and consulted with a doctor to monitor her health throughout the shoot.

Now the project is in the can and the film is available on demand, Troian is grateful to her actor husband for helping her see it through.

“He was really supportive in the way that he was, like, really watching me,” she smiles. “(He was) really protective of me.”

- Advertisement -