Lily Collins shared a post on her social media where she addressed her struggles with anorexia and mental health and reminded us all to be kind and gentle

While lockdowns and the Covid-19 pandemic are still on, many celebrities have been opening their hearts and Lily Collins is the latest star to join the media to talk about her eating disorders and mental health struggles. The British-American actress shared to her 23 million fans her journey through her life and how she has dealt with it.

The ‘Emily in Paris’ star started her message addressing that May is Mental Health Awareness month and due to this she has been meditating about the journey she has had with her struggles, dealing with insecurities, emotions, and expectations. “I like to remind myself that no matter what it looks like from the outside, you never know what someone is going through – so be kind, be gentle, and never make assumptions.” 

Lily Collins the recalled her work in ‘To The Bone’ where many fans wondered why she played a woman with anorexia after her own eating disorder. She explained that they were hoping that telling their stories would empower others to do the same. “We wanted to make mental health a priority – it shouldn’t be taboo to share what you’re going through.” She then ended her heartfelt letter “I hope this continues to be a safe place to make these connections and lift each other up. You are all such an uplifting source of energy for me and I’m incredibly honored to continue sharing our stories and journeys with each other… “

The actress has been open about this topic and in her 2017 memoir ‘Unfiltered: No Shame, No Regrets, Just Me.‘ Lily Collins wrote about how the absence of her father left her feeling that she ‘was not enough.’ Collins also wrote that by her mid-teens, she had turned to diet pills and laxatives to lose weight. She had also began bingeing and purging on junk food.

The movie she referred to in the Insta post is “To The Bone,” a 2017 drama film directed by Marti Noxon and alongside Collins,  Keanu Reeves, Carrie Preston, Lili Taylor, Alex Sharp, Liana Liberato, Brooke Smith, and Retta were included in the cast. The story follows Ellen (Collins) after moving into a house with other six patients to deal with their eating disorders. Now, we know that slimming and losing weight is all part of the job of an actor but after being in such a delicate state of mind, Lily declared in the past that she did the movie because she felt it was something she needed to do in order to show to the world her own experience with anorexia. And while many fans were concerned because in some scenes we could see the actress with a bruised spine as a result of obsessive crunches, sunken cheeks and a concave belly Collins declared that she got help from the make-up department.