Brittany Snow Says Leaving Hollywood at Age 23 Saved Her Life: ‘There Was No Way That I Would Still Be Here’
NEED TO KNOW
- Brittany Snow says that her break from acting at age 23 was life-saving
- Snow has previously opened up about focusing on her mental health before filming Pitch Perfect in 2011
- Speaking to Self, she said her life “depended” on that break
Brittany Snow is opening up about the break she took from acting at age 23 to focus on her mental health.
In a new interview for the cover of Self, Snow, 39, said the break from Hollywood was essential to her survival.
“My life depended on it,” Snow told Self. “I mean, there was no way that I would still be here—and I’m trying not to be hyperbolic. I think that in those days, I needed to be a part of movies that made me fall in love with life again.”
Snow first revealed her struggles with mental health and eating disorders at 21 in a 2007 PEOPLE essay and has since said that the public reaction to that openness was “awful.”
So awful that, at 23, Snow took two years off from public life to focus on her mental health before filming Pitch Perfect in 2011.
Speaking to PEOPLE earlier this year, Snow reflected on her acting hiatus, saying, “During that time I had to learn how to handle my anxiety and my nerves.”
“I’m sort of a nervous person by nature, and acting is not always conducive for that, in terms of walking into an audition,” she added. “I didn’t think I was ever going to work again because I felt like I had to restart my career. But that time off was hugely important for me to find out who I was. It was a restart, in a way, that gave me a clear path forward.”
Snow — whose breakout role came as the new girl, Kate Spencer, in 2006’s high school comedy John Tucker Must Die — is currently starring in the Netflix drama The Hunting Wives.
Speaking to PEOPLE earlier this year, Snow said she relates to her character in the show, Sophie — a woman who moves from the East Coast to East Texas and becomes transfixed with socialite Margo Banks (played by Malin Akerman).
“I related to Sophie in that she doesn’t shy away from talking about it,” Snow said. “It’s nice that people are so open these days, and I’m glad I was a part of that trajectory in any way.”
Read the original article on People
