Photo Credit: Anne Menke for Seventeen
For many Pretty Little Liars viewers, Troian Bellisario is the epitome of perfection. She’s intelligent, hard-working, mega talented, and breathtakingly gorgeous. Plus, she posts the most humorous content on twitter and is a total fangirl — what’s there not to love about this classy gal? However, unbeknownst to her legions of fans, the 28-year-old actress has suffered her fair share of hardships and faced many pressures while growing up in sunny California. In a recent interview with Seventeen for their February 2014 issue, Troian, who can be seen gracing the magazine’s cover, revealed a shocking secret about herself: she used to have an eating disorder.
“I started self-harming when I was a junior, ” Troian reveals in the Seventeen issue. “I would withhold food or withhold going out with my friends, based on how well I did that day in school. Being a teenager is chaotic because you’re kind of coming into your own. I didn’t know what was right and what was wrong, so I think I created this bizarre system of checks and balances to create order in my world,” she says. “But it really backfired.”
Troian then opened up about her troubled existence as a teenager — about how studying at a “very intense” college prep school heightened her stress level as did the need to be the “perfect little girl” in her parents’ eyes. “It was about wanting to please my father and mother and wanting to be perfect to everybody,” she explained to the publication. “I just thought if I ever expressed [to my parents] any sadness or anger or anything that’s going on with me, they would disown me. I kept a lot of it bottled up inside, and it turned into self-destructive behavior.”
Photo Credit: Anne Menke for Seventeen
And her internal battle didn’t end just there; she found herself spiraling out of control and plummeting into a state of total despair. “I felt this sadness, and I thought if people really knew what was going on inside me, they wouldn’t want to hang out with me. So I tried to keep it light and funny. I became imprisoned [by my eating disorder and self-harm]. And it was something I fought with.”
Thankfully though, with the help of her close friends, Troian found inner strength and peace and triumphed over her self-doubt and qualms with her physical appearance. “[My friends] got a hold of my journal and basically said, ‘We don’t trust you, and we’re gonna tell your parents.’ That was when my world kind of exploded,” she admits. “It was kind of like an intervention. It made me ask myself, “What do I really want to be doing? What would make me happy?”‘
Photo Credit: Anne Menke for Seventeen
These days Troian, ever the empowered individual, feels confident in her abilities and embraces her quirks. However, despite her dark days being behind her, she still experiences hesitation from time to time, especially as a rising actress in Hollywood. “Honestly, it’s an ongoing struggle,” she confesses. “Especially for a woman on a show that has the word ‘pretty’ in it! Sometimes I feel like I’m trying too hard, like I don’t belong. I just look around at Lucy [Hale], Shay [Mitchell], and Ashley [Benson], and I’m just like, Why am I on this show? Sometimes I’ve felt like a fraud. Like, I’m not like these other girls – I don’t dress like that and I don’t know how to do my hair.”
So how does she deal? “The minute I’m off that stage, I try to get as ‘me’ as possible. I do that by piling on my black eyeliner, and I put on my ripped tights. Dressing like myself again helps.” You go, girl!
Photo Credit: Anne Menke for Seventeen
It takes a lot of courage to share such an intimate struggle with the world, and in doing so, Troian solidified her position as a true role model — especially on such a prevalent matter that ails men and women alike. Even her fellow PLL cast mates were blown away by the interview.
“So proud of my friend/ costar/ older sister @sleepinthegardn ‘s @seventeenmag cover and inspiring story. You are brave, intelligent and beyond talented. I am so excited to be seeing your face on newsstands everywhere!” Shay Mitchell raved, adding in a photo of Troian’s cover on Instagram.
Lucy Hale, who’s also dealt with an eating disorder in the past, tweeted support for her PLL costar: “Everyone check out @SleepintheGardn seventeen mag interview. A very inspiring article. Proud of her for speaking up!”
Ashley Benson was equally amazed. “Wow babe @SleepintheGardn you inspire me,” she marveled on Twitter. “Your @seventeenmag article is amazing. Not to mention you look amazing on the cover. Congrats.”
Photo Credit: Anne Menke for Seventeen
We are so utterly moved by Troian’s powerful story, and proud of all that she has accomplished in terms of her career and personal life. We can’t wait to see what marvelous adventures 2014 has in store for this Pretty Little Liars star. That being said, what do you love most about Troian Bellisario? What do you love most about yourself? Have you experienced a similar struggle? How did you overcome it? Tell us in a comment!
For the full feature and more photos, visit Seventeen‘s official site and be sure to grab your copy of Troian’s Seventeen magazine issue from your nearest newsstand!
The post Troian Bellisario Talks About Overcoming Eating Disorder in Seventeen Magazine's February 2014 Issue appeared first on Pretty Little Liars.