Melanie Lynskey.Photo: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty ImagesMelanie Lynskeyis crediting her ex-boyfriend for sparking her recovery from an eating disorder.The New Zealand-born actress, 45, said early on she was constantly “reminded” to be “thin, confident, and pretty,” which ultimately led to her eating disorder trying to reach standards she thought she “needed” in order to be successful.In a recent interview withVulture, theYellowjacketsstar said she started to get her health back on track when she met her ex-boyfriend.“I met a boyfriend, Andrew Howard, who helped me so much with my eating disorder on the set ofThe Cherry Orchard,” she told the outlet. “The closest thing I’ve had to an intervention was when I was living with him, and he got really intense about my eating issues. He tried to stop me from monitoring my own eating and talked to me about how thin I was. Of course, in my mind, I thought he was nuts.““I’d never had anybody care that much,” Lynskey continued. “I’d never had anybody be like, ‘This is really painful.’ The people I had confided in were usually people who also had eating issues, so it would become about swapping tips.“Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.Melanie Lynskey.Rich Fury/Getty ImagesThe actress said she had a bad relationship with food since the age of 12, noting that her mother “was anorexic for a lot of my growing up,” making it difficult to get through her own problems.“When we were young teenagers, like 13, my friend and I used to go to the library. It was very hard to get magazines in New Plymouth. But they would have internationalVogue. We would go there and rip out pages of the magazines of the skinniest, most beautiful women,” she said. “They were all over my room. I thought you were supposed to have a gap between your thighs. I became obsessed with that.“Reflecting on how severe her eating disorder was, Lynskey admitted that Howard’s intervention was a turning point in her life.“It changed my life,” she said. “I stopped throwing up, mostly. It took a while. But that was a big one. I had, for a very long time, been on this diet that was basically 800 calories a day, and if I ate anything over 800 calories, I would throw up. I was never bingey. Sometimes I’d be starving, and I’d have another teacup of Special K. Then I’d be like, ‘Well, now I gotta throw it up.'“TheBut I’m a Cheerleaderactress previously opened up to PEOPLE about insecurities and eating issuesstemming from her “different shape"during a 2016 interview.“I was losing my mind trying to conform to something that was not physically possible for me,” she said. “I was very unwell for a long time. I had eating issues and at a certain point I was like, ‘I’m not going to survive’ — not like I was on death’s door or anything, but I was so unhappy and my hair was falling out.““I was like, ‘I just need to look the way I’m supposed to look’ and have faith that people are going to want to put someone in a film or on a show who looks like this. I did have to truly become comfortable with myself, because you can’t fake it,” Lynskey added.
Melanie Lynskey.Photo: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
Melanie Lynskeyis crediting her ex-boyfriend for sparking her recovery from an eating disorder.The New Zealand-born actress, 45, said early on she was constantly “reminded” to be “thin, confident, and pretty,” which ultimately led to her eating disorder trying to reach standards she thought she “needed” in order to be successful.In a recent interview withVulture, theYellowjacketsstar said she started to get her health back on track when she met her ex-boyfriend.“I met a boyfriend, Andrew Howard, who helped me so much with my eating disorder on the set ofThe Cherry Orchard,” she told the outlet. “The closest thing I’ve had to an intervention was when I was living with him, and he got really intense about my eating issues. He tried to stop me from monitoring my own eating and talked to me about how thin I was. Of course, in my mind, I thought he was nuts.““I’d never had anybody care that much,” Lynskey continued. “I’d never had anybody be like, ‘This is really painful.’ The people I had confided in were usually people who also had eating issues, so it would become about swapping tips.“Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.Melanie Lynskey.Rich Fury/Getty ImagesThe actress said she had a bad relationship with food since the age of 12, noting that her mother “was anorexic for a lot of my growing up,” making it difficult to get through her own problems.“When we were young teenagers, like 13, my friend and I used to go to the library. It was very hard to get magazines in New Plymouth. But they would have internationalVogue. We would go there and rip out pages of the magazines of the skinniest, most beautiful women,” she said. “They were all over my room. I thought you were supposed to have a gap between your thighs. I became obsessed with that.“Reflecting on how severe her eating disorder was, Lynskey admitted that Howard’s intervention was a turning point in her life.“It changed my life,” she said. “I stopped throwing up, mostly. It took a while. But that was a big one. I had, for a very long time, been on this diet that was basically 800 calories a day, and if I ate anything over 800 calories, I would throw up. I was never bingey. Sometimes I’d be starving, and I’d have another teacup of Special K. Then I’d be like, ‘Well, now I gotta throw it up.'“TheBut I’m a Cheerleaderactress previously opened up to PEOPLE about insecurities and eating issuesstemming from her “different shape"during a 2016 interview.“I was losing my mind trying to conform to something that was not physically possible for me,” she said. “I was very unwell for a long time. I had eating issues and at a certain point I was like, ‘I’m not going to survive’ — not like I was on death’s door or anything, but I was so unhappy and my hair was falling out.““I was like, ‘I just need to look the way I’m supposed to look’ and have faith that people are going to want to put someone in a film or on a show who looks like this. I did have to truly become comfortable with myself, because you can’t fake it,” Lynskey added.
Melanie Lynskeyis crediting her ex-boyfriend for sparking her recovery from an eating disorder.
The New Zealand-born actress, 45, said early on she was constantly “reminded” to be “thin, confident, and pretty,” which ultimately led to her eating disorder trying to reach standards she thought she “needed” in order to be successful.
In a recent interview withVulture, theYellowjacketsstar said she started to get her health back on track when she met her ex-boyfriend.
“I met a boyfriend, Andrew Howard, who helped me so much with my eating disorder on the set ofThe Cherry Orchard,” she told the outlet. “The closest thing I’ve had to an intervention was when I was living with him, and he got really intense about my eating issues. He tried to stop me from monitoring my own eating and talked to me about how thin I was. Of course, in my mind, I thought he was nuts.”
“I’d never had anybody care that much,” Lynskey continued. “I’d never had anybody be like, ‘This is really painful.’ The people I had confided in were usually people who also had eating issues, so it would become about swapping tips.”
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Melanie Lynskey.Rich Fury/Getty Images
The actress said she had a bad relationship with food since the age of 12, noting that her mother “was anorexic for a lot of my growing up,” making it difficult to get through her own problems.
“When we were young teenagers, like 13, my friend and I used to go to the library. It was very hard to get magazines in New Plymouth. But they would have internationalVogue. We would go there and rip out pages of the magazines of the skinniest, most beautiful women,” she said. “They were all over my room. I thought you were supposed to have a gap between your thighs. I became obsessed with that.”
Reflecting on how severe her eating disorder was, Lynskey admitted that Howard’s intervention was a turning point in her life.
“It changed my life,” she said. “I stopped throwing up, mostly. It took a while. But that was a big one. I had, for a very long time, been on this diet that was basically 800 calories a day, and if I ate anything over 800 calories, I would throw up. I was never bingey. Sometimes I’d be starving, and I’d have another teacup of Special K. Then I’d be like, ‘Well, now I gotta throw it up.'”
TheBut I’m a Cheerleaderactress previously opened up to PEOPLE about insecurities and eating issuesstemming from her “different shape"during a 2016 interview.
“I was losing my mind trying to conform to something that was not physically possible for me,” she said. “I was very unwell for a long time. I had eating issues and at a certain point I was like, ‘I’m not going to survive’ — not like I was on death’s door or anything, but I was so unhappy and my hair was falling out.”
“I was like, ‘I just need to look the way I’m supposed to look’ and have faith that people are going to want to put someone in a film or on a show who looks like this. I did have to truly become comfortable with myself, because you can’t fake it,” Lynskey added.
source: people.com
