Evanna Lynch has opened up about being cast in the Harry Potter films as a teenager.
The star was battling an eating disorder at the time and says that reading the JK Rowling books helped through some aspects of her illness.
“I believe in raising awareness on this issue and it’s very healing for me to talk about this stuff.
“I wanted to talk about how before Harry Potter, I was quite sick, and how the Harry Potter books really helped me through an eating disorder,” she said.
However, the actress stressed that landing the role of Luna Lovegood in the films did not cure her mental illness.
The star said that the message that getting the role fixed everything is very problematic.
“Those kinds of issues, they are never that neat and sometimes it upsets me the way the story is told.
“Like,’Oh, you get Harry Potter and your mental illness is cured?’ That’s a wrong message to send, an unhealthy message to send, and that’s really not the truth.”
Evanna is currently taking part in Dancing with the Stars in the US, and opened up about what battling a mental illness felt like for her.
“You are constantly having to choose between the negative voice that’s in your head telling you that you’re terrible at everything, that you suck.
“And then the voice saying, ‘No, I can be something.’ That’s what the work is every day. Being brave enough to say, or not brave enough, but just making the choice to say, ‘I’m going to choose love.’
“I could not have gotten through doing the Harry Potter films if I had continued down that route,” she told Entertainment Weekly.
“I just want to say that once you put yourself out there and believe in yourself, things happen.”
