Jessie Buckley opens up on overcoming eating disorder

Oscar-nominated Irish actress, Jessie Buckley, has opened up on how acting helped her overcome her eating disorder and depression as a teenager.

The 36-year-old actress, while speaking with BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, revealed that acting became an essential part of her life.

Buckley credited her mental health progress to her passion for her craft, stating that there were time she felt she would not survive and did not want to be alive.

“I didn’t know how to be alive the way I wanted to be, and it was difficult. But I do not for a second regret it, and I think I’ve been able to transform it and recognise our vulnerabilities as humans in the world. You can’t walk through life not being affected, but you can transform that into something that allows you to be more human and alive in the way that you want to be. There were moments where I was like, ‘if I don’t get better here, this music, this being part of theatre – I’m not going to be able to do this any more, and I probably won’t survive’. And that was the thing that turned it in my head. I was like, ‘I don’t want to sacrifice that, this is bigger than that’, and won,” she stated.