News 24th February 2023 by Jade Carpenter

Lucy Hale Opens Up About Her Journey To Sobriety And Struggling With An Eating Disorder

TW eating disorder / alcohol abuse

Via @lucyhale Instagram

Pretty Little Liars star Lucy Hale has recently celebrated one year of sobriety, letting fans know she had reached the milestone on her Instagram page with a picture of a cake that said, “1 year”.

In the caption of the post she shared, “Bear with me, this is an alternative Valentine’s Day post. This is a post about self-love and about the greatest thing I’ve ever done. On January 2, 2023 I celebrated one year of sobriety. While this journey has mostly been private, I felt compelled tonight to let anyone who is struggling know that you are not alone and you are loved.”

Since this post, Lucy has spoken more about her journey as well as her struggle with an eating disorder growing up on the Diary of a CEO with Steven Barlett podcast.

She explained that her “obsession with movement” began while she was being homeschooled.

 

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A post shared by Lucy Hale (@lucyhale)

“And then I saw my body kind of change and then I started restricting eating, and then it became…it slowly just grew and grew to something that I could not enjoy life. I could not have a conversation. I could not focus on anything,” she explained.

“It’s a miracle that I even started working and could focus on acting…because when I mean it was a constant loop, I don’t know how I got out of it. The thing with eating disorders is it can always creep back up on you. There are days when I don’t feel like my best self, but I love myself enough now to nourish my body,” she said.

Later she mentioned that she began to “feel better” over the years and then when she booked Prettly Little Liars, “it got a little dodgy again and scary.”

“But I learned other coping mechanisms that worked for a while until they didn’t,” she said.

 

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A post shared by Lucy Hale (@lucyhale)

“For the coping mechanisms I discovered work for me were incredibly self-destructive and self-sabotaging…I have a little over a year of sobriety…I’ve been working on getting sober since I was 20, I’m 33, it takes time. It took patience with myself,” she continued.

Lucy recalled that she “had a problem” since she began drinking in her early teens, “I’ve never had a period of my life where I was a normal moderate drinker…I was willing to go to this crazy, dark place every time.”

Now that she’s sober she feels like she can, “show up exactly who I am and share my story, and to actually be able to talk about this is so freeing because it’s not chaining me down anymore…It takes the power away from it. I can be Lucy, which is not always cute at times. It’s dark and disgusting and scary and that’s what makes us all complex, beautiful human beings, is we all have got this shadow self.”

 

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If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder or want to chat about the related topics you can visit Bodywhys or call 1890 200 444.

If you or someone you know is struggling with alcohol or want to chat about the related topics you can visit Alcoholics Anonymous or call +353 1 842 0700.

If you want to talk to a professional about mental health issues You can visit Pieta House or call their 24-hour helpline 1800 247 247.

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