Your support helps us tell the story.
My recent work focusing on Latino voters in Arizona has shown me how crucial independent journalism is to giving voice to underrepresented communities.
Your support is what allows us to tell these stories and draw attention to issues that are often overlooked. Without your contribution, these voices may not be heard.
Every dollar you donate helps us continue to shed light on these critical issues in the run-up to the election and beyond.
Eric Garcia
Washington Office Chief
Shailene Woodley has opened up about the “combination” of health issues she experienced while filming the Divergent film series.
He Big little lies The actress appeared in the last episode of the She is a doctor of medicine podcast where she said her health problems cost her acting jobs after her role in the major sci-fi franchise.
Woodley played the lead character, Beatrice Prior, in Divergent, insurgent and Loyal From 2014 to 2016.
“I haven't talked about what it was exactly because I feel like it's a personal thing that I don't need to reveal,” Woodley said on the podcast.
“But basically, I was in a situation where, in my early 20s, I got to a point where I was losing my hearing. I couldn’t walk for more than five minutes at a time without having to lie down for hours and hours and hours and sleep. Everything I ate was upsetting my stomach.”
She said she turned to several health professionals, from “genuine doctors” to “independent healers,” but struggled to find a diagnosis for her condition.
“It was a combination of problems and diagnoses and different doctors told me different things.” The Secret Life of the American Teenager “I come from a very holistic background and I studied herbalism, so I was very excited about the idea of working with real doctors and independent healers. I was trying to find some comfort in my own skin. It was a long journey.”
Woodley explained that through her physical health issues, she began to struggle mentally as well, thinking that any action she took could somehow make her symptoms worse.
“Over the course of that decade, a lot of other things came up because of feeling so much physical discomfort, like, 'Oh my God, everything I eat hurts my stomach, so now all of a sudden I'm afraid of food,'” she recalled.
“And then you get into the mental chaos that can come with that: body dysmorphia and confusion about identity and feeling safe in my own capsule.”
The actress clarified that she is no longer sick and that the problem “resolved itself.” “I am very healthy. I am very happy to be able to say that. And also, it forced me to look deeper and do some introspection,” Woodley said on the podcast.
Under the same star The actress has previously spoken about her health issues in an interview with The New York Times Back in 2020.
“While I was doing the Divergent “In addition to making movies and working hard, I was also struggling with a deeply personal and very scary physical situation,” she told the outlet at the time. “Because of that, I said no to a lot of opportunities because I needed to get better, and those jobs ended up going to peers of mine who I love.”
