Quick answer: On Armchair Expert, Brittany Snow talked about her eating disorder recovery in her own words. She said her dad stepped in and she started therapy at 16, that a magazine story about another woman's eating disorder made her feel "not alone," and that she carried it in her back pocket. Years later, a young woman in a coffee shop was carrying Snow's own article the same way. She also told the hosts she was one day away from 17 years of recovery.
Source: Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, Brittany Snow, clipped as a YouTube Short.
A note before reading: this article covers eating disorder recovery. If you or someone you know is struggling, the ANAD Eating Disorders Helpline is free at 1-888-375-7767 (Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Central).
"I thought I could control this"
Snow, the Pitch Perfect and The Hunting Wives actress, told hosts Dax Shepard and Monica Padman that she once believed she could control her eating disorder, and then control her own recovery, and that "it wasn't that big of a deal." Of course, she said, it was.
She described it as the one place she behaves like an addict: "hyperfixating on something in terms of control in my body." When things got dangerous, she said, it was her dad who intervened. That was the first time she went to therapy. She was 16.
The article she ripped out
Before she had words for what was happening, Snow said, she read a magazine article about a woman with an eating disorder. "The way she's counting her food and the way she's talking about her body. That's exactly what I do," she remembered thinking. Her next thought was: "Eating disorder? I don't even know what that means."
So she ripped the page out and carried it in her back pocket "because it sort of signified that somebody had an answer to this, and it made me feel not alone." She has told the same story before, in interviews where she said it came from a fitness magazine.
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The girl in the coffee shop
Snow went public in 2007 with a People magazine essay titled "My Nine-Year Struggle With Anorexia." On the podcast, she said that some time after it ran, she was in line at a coffee shop when the girl in front of her turned around crying. She was carrying Snow's article in her back pocket.
"I started crying and she started crying," Snow said. That idea, that hearing someone else's story can make you feel less alone, is also behind September Letters, the mental health letter-writing project she co-founded with her friend Jaspre Guest, which later became a book.
What worked for her
Snow said the thing that worked best for her was an outpatient program. She quit acting for a year to do it, and she gave a heartfelt shout-out to Ray, a man she worked with in the program: "He saved my life." Fox News has reported her earlier description of that year as individual therapy, classes, meetings and regular check-ins.
Then came the line that made the hosts react: "I have 17 years of recovery tomorrow." That's her own count, given at the time the episode was recorded.
Snow's point through the whole conversation was simple. Hearing one other person's honest story made her feel less alone, and her own story later did the same for a stranger in a coffee shop.
More on RealNameOf:
- Brittany Snow's real name
- Dax Shepard's real name
- Another Armchair Expert moment: the hayride tractor story
- Actors' real names
FAQ
When did Brittany Snow first talk publicly about her eating disorder? In 2007, in a People magazine essay titled "My Nine-Year Struggle With Anorexia."
How old was Brittany Snow when she started therapy? She told Armchair Expert she started therapy at 16, after her dad intervened.
How many years of recovery does Brittany Snow have? In the episode, she said she was one day away from 17 years of recovery.
Where can someone get help for an eating disorder? In the U.S., the ANAD Eating Disorders Helpline is free at 1-888-375-7767, Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Central. Talking to a doctor or therapist is also a good first step.