{"id":327697,"date":"2026-03-08T02:49:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T02:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/327697\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T02:49:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T02:49:09","slug":"love-of-music-theatre-helped-me-cope-with-eating-disorder-and-depression-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/327697\/","title":{"rendered":"love of music, theatre helped me cope with eating disorder and depression \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jessie Buckley<\/a> has said her love of music and theatre helped her to cope with an eating disorder and depression during her teenage years.<\/p>\n

The actor (36), from Killarney, Co Kerry<\/a>, made the comments to Lauren Laverne during an episode of BBC<\/a> Radio 4\u2019s Desert Island Discs, published on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had an eating disorder, and it took time, and it took a lot of help, and also it was depression,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know how to be alive the way I wanted to be, and it was difficult, but I do not for a second regret it, and I think I\u2019ve been able to transform it and recognise our vulnerabilities as humans in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, you can\u2019t walk through life not being affected, but you can transform that into something that allows you to be more human and alive in the way that you want to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I\u2019m very grateful for everybody who helped me along the way with that, and for the people who held space for that … I \u2019ve been in therapy since I was 17, I still go every week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buckley has recently received a string of awards<\/a> for her performance as William Shakespeare\u2019s wife Agnes Hathaway, historically known as Anne, in the film adaptation of Maggie O\u2019Farrell\u2019s novel Hamnet.<\/p>\n

\"JessieJessie Buckley, appearing on Desert Island Discs, has spoken about her struggle with her mental health as a teenager, and has credited her love of music and theatre for helping with her recovery. Photograph: Duncan Barker\/BBC\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

She also said she realised acting was \u201cessential\u201d for her wellbeing and \u201clike water to me\u201d after her appendix \u201calmost burst\u201d during one of her earliest performances. She refused to leave until the play was finished, at which point she was taken to hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I moved to London, I still wasn\u2019t out of the woods,\u201d she added. \u201cI think there were moments where I was like: \u2018if I don\u2019t get better here, this music, this being part of theatre \u2013 I\u2019m not going to be able to do this any more, and I probably won\u2019t survive\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that was the thing that turned it in my head, I was like: \u2018I don\u2019t want to sacrifice that, this is bigger than that\u2019, and won.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buckley also recounted her time on BBC talent show I\u2019d Do Anything, which followed the search for an actor to play Nancy in a West End production of Oliver!<\/p>\n

In an interview with British Vogue in January, she spoke about being criticised for her appearance during her time on the show.<\/p>\n

\"PaulPaul Mescal and Jessie Buckley speak onstage during the 32nd Annual Actor Awards at Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall in Los Angeles. Photograph: Matt Winkelmeyer\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Speaking to Laverne, Buckley said: \u201cI don\u2019t like that part of it. I think that was a young woman who\u2019s trying to discover her body and herself, like we all do. And I wish that hadn\u2019t happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I was putting a brave face on, because really what I wanted to do was sing and I wanted to act, and I wanted to be part of this industry, and all of a sudden you had to be a certain kind of person.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I just wasn\u2019t, I never will be. That\u2019s just not me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buckley added: \u201cI\u2019m so proud of that girl. I think she did great and I don\u2019t regret any of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also spoke about her \u201cextraordinary\u201d mother, saying: \u201cMy parents are no longer together, and she lives in Dublin, and she\u2019s writing her own story right now at 60 years of age, and I\u2019m so proud of her.\u201d<\/p>\n

She sounded emotional as she gave her first song choice, which was her mother, Marina, singing O Holy Night in a church. \u2013 PA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jessie Buckley has said her love of music and theatre helped her to cope with an eating disorder…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1705,146,85,46,28402,152130],"class_list":["post-327697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-bbc","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-jessie-buckley","tag-kerry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}