‘Pitch Perfect’ Actress Says Leaving Hollywood Saved Her Life

Brittany Snow says the break she took from Hollywood in her early 20s was a life-saving one.

In a new interview for the cover of Self, the 39-year-old actress looked back on the decision to step back from acting to focus on her eating disorder recovery following years of struggling in the spotlight.

After landing her first big role at age 12 on Guiding Light, Snow said she developed “so much disdain” for her body that she couldn’t see herself “as a functional, beautiful being.”

By age 21, she had undergone multiple treatments for anorexia, exercise bulimia, depression, and self-harm, having previously left an inpatient rehab center at age 19 to shoot John Tucker Must Die.

It was when she turned 23 that Snow realized she needed to take time off from acting to focus on recovering. “My life depended on it,” she told the outlet. “I mean, there was no way that I would still be here—and I’m trying not to be hyperbolic.”

The Hunting Wives star’s subsequent rehab stay was cut short, however, as a fellow patient began telling people that she was going to “sell” Snow’s story. “It was really scary, because I had already told her so much stuff and it really felt like a safe place for me to get better. It suddenly wasn’t,” the actress recalled, adding, “And that’s not to say that I was that cool of a person to even sell that story. I’m sure no one would’ve cared. It was just more that I didn’t feel like I could be completely authentic.”

Snow’s parents went on to pull her out of the inpatient treatment, and she went on to dedicate herself to outpatient treatment for a year. “I think rewiring my brain where I could count on myself and I could trust myself, I could be in a space and feel like I wasn’t going to do something harmful to myself, was the best thing that ever could have happened to my recovery,” she said of the experience.

Returning to acting in 2012 for Pitch Perfect, Snow said she was “so grateful” to be working again, despite the long hours of shooting.

“Everybody was complaining about the long shoots and I was like, ‘This is amazing…,’” she shared. “I just felt so grateful to be a part of that movie because I didn’t think I was ever going to work again. So that movie was really special to me.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, contact the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) at 1-800-931-2237 or go to NationalEatingDisorders.org.