Troian Bellisario Opens Up About Anorexia in Voting PSA

Troian Bellisario knows firsthand what it feels like to have a mental illness — anorexia— and she’s imploring voters to elect Hillary Clinton in a new PSA.

The Pretty Little Liars star says she supports Clinton because of her work to improve the health care system, particularly for those suffering from mental illnesses.

Bellisario opened up about her battle with anorexia as a child.

“With anorexia, a lot of it is presenting a front of ‘everything is okay’ as you’re slowly killing yourself,” she says in the voting PSA for ATTN. “Gone were the days when I was just a happy, carefree kid who was running around, and suddenly I felt this inability to interact with people and to nourish myself.”

Bellisario first shared that she struggled with an eating disorder in 2014, but didn’t explicitly say it was anorexia.

Now, Bellisario’s experience pushed her to campaign for Clinton.

“[Mental illness] is a huge issue, and I am such a huge supporter of Mrs. Clinton for so many reasons. Specifically because she’s been such a huge advocate for health care,” she explains. “And her definition of health care includes mental health care. And that to me is just — it’s the deciding factor between both candidates.”

Bellisario says that getting treated for her anorexia was life-changing.

“If I had just been sort of shunned to the side as not having real problems, I don’t know that I would be living today,” she says. “I just want to make sure that everybody has the same opportunity for treatment that I have, and I think that we have to make sure our government invests in those programs.”

“What matters is that we continue to make our voices heard in this great democracy, so please vote.”

This article originally appeared on People.com