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Lily Collins has opened up about her past experience suffering from an eating disorder as she plays an anorexic character in new film To The Bone.
Speaking to IMDB Studio at the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday, the 27-year-old revealed she was able to tap into her own past to portray protagonist Ellen in the movie, a young woman being treated for anorexia in a raw portrayal of the disease.
“This was definitely a more dramatic role for me. I suffered with eating disorders when I was a teenager as well,” the daughter of Phil Collins revealed.
“I wrote a book last year, and I wrote my chapter on my experiences a week before I got the script, and it was like the universe kind of putting these things in my sphere to help me face, kind of dead on, a fear that I used to have and a way to explain it as someone who’s gone through it and to open up a topic that is considered quite taboo with young people nowadays, male, female, and to really start a conversation.”
The already slender actress lost weight for the role under the supervision of a nutritionist, which she says was at times hard going emotionally given her past.
“It did require a different set of emotional skills, to kind of go back in time for me, with you know, my experiences … So definitely a different type of film for me to do, very, very personal.”
On the same day as the interview Collins posted a photo of herself jumping into the air on Instagram, and explained in the caption how coming out about her past has been a cathartic experience.
Image: Lily Collins via Instagram
“Owning my past, being open, and having no shame or regrets about my experiences. Sharing my history with eating disorders and how personal this film has been is one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life,” she wrote.
To The Bone premiered at Sundance and also stars Keanu Reeves. Her memoir, Unfiltered: No Shame, No Regrets, Just Me comes out in March.
Lily received a Golden Globe nomination for her role as Marla Mabrey in film Rules Don’t Apply, set in 1950s Hollywood. The movie, which tells the story of a young actress (Collins) in a romantic relationship with her driver (Alden Ehrenreich), bombed at the box-office, but Lily’s nomination proves it wasn’t a total flop.
