Downton Abbey Star Jessica Brown Findlay Overcame an Eating Disorder

Downton Abbey star Jessica Brown Findlay hopes sharing her experience with an eating disorder can help others.

In an interview with the Telegraph, Findlay revealed that she developed an eating disorder at age 14 — and that societal standards of beauty were harmful to her self-esteem. “I think that we can feed certain ideas of what beauty is and what success is and I just feel there has to come a time where those aren’t the rules anymore,” she said. “Then we can have a mature conversation about what that is about, and about depression.”

The actor, who is set to appear in Hulu’s forthcoming series Harlots, said she now knows that being a smaller dress size won’t make her better at her craft. But she said that it took therapy and self-reflection to get her to that point. Now, she hopes that others facing the same challenges can have the same open dialogue.

“The more we have brave discussions like that going forward, the easier it is to talk about things, and the less alone we can feel,” she told the Telegraph. “It’s certainly made me feel less alone.”

Read the full interview at the Telegraph.