{"id":169634,"date":"2025-09-30T04:32:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T04:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/169634\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T04:32:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T04:32:12","slug":"white-lotus-star-aimee-lou-wood-fears-her-soaring-fame-will-reignite-her-teenage-bulimia-and-body-dysmorphia-battles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/169634\/","title":{"rendered":"White Lotus star Aimee Lou Wood fears her soaring fame will reignite her teenage bulimia and body dysmorphia battles"},"content":{"rendered":"

She earned a legion of fans \u2013 and an Emmy<\/a> nomination \u2013 with her performance in The White Lotus<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But Aimee Lou Wood<\/a> says the intensity of her rise to international stardom has meant a past eating disorder has threatened to surface again.<\/p>\n

The British actress, 31, suffered from bulimia, social anxiety and body dysmorphia as a teenager, and says the stress of being in the spotlight can take a toll on her mental health.<\/p>\n

\u2018I still have moments when I\u2019m really overwhelmed and stressed and I feel it coming back up, like, \u201cI could just take back control by not eating\u201d,\u2019 she told the Radio Times.<\/a> \u2018Then I go, \u201cNo, I have to [eat]\u201d and I catch that and try not to get burnt out.\u2019<\/p>\n

Ms Wood, who played Chelsea in the most recent series of the HBO<\/a> drama, said the support of fans has helped her through some of her darker days.<\/p>\n

\u2018It gives me confidence on the days where sometimes that little demon comes back up,\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n

\"Aimee <\/p>\n

Aimee Lou Wood says the intensity of her rise to international stardom has meant a past eating disorder has threatened to surface again<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The British actress, 31, suffered from bulimia, social anxiety and body dysmorphia as a teenager, and says the stress of being in the spotlight can take a toll on her mental health<\/p>\n

Ms Wood was diagnosed with ADHD last year and is undergoing tests to ascertain whether she is autistic. But, she says, she now realises her neurodiversity is a \u2018superpower\u2019 that has made her better at her job.<\/p>\n

\u2018I don\u2019t need everyone to understand me. The people that get me, get me,\u2019 she added.<\/p>\n

Eating disorders, including bulimia, anorexia and binge eating disorder, affect some 1.25million people in the UK.<\/p>\n

Bulimia, characterised by periods of purging calories via vomiting, exercising or other means, can have deadly effects on the heart if untreated.<\/p>\n

The condition is thought to be caused by a combination of factors, including genetic predisposition, personality type and trigger \u2014 such as being bullied or starting a diet.<\/p>\n

The Mancunian previously said her body image struggles may have been rooted in cruel jibes from classmates in her school years.<\/p>\n

In her private secondary school, where she first developed a love of drama, she said she felt out of place with her thick Stockport accent, and was teased about her ‘Bugs Bunny’ teeth.<\/p>\n

This led her to believe she wouldn’t be able to land acting roles due to being ‘too weird-looking’.<\/p>\n

\"She <\/p>\n

She says, she realises her neurodiversity is a \u2018superpower\u2019 that has made her better at her job<\/p>\n

‘Anyone who’s been bullied knows what it’s like to hear these things, to internalise it and turn it in on yourself and go “If I was just less ugly, just less this, just more this…”,’ she told The Observer.<\/p>\n

It appears as though the Sex Education star’s demons have not fully disappeared, given recent comments she made about her role in HBO hit White Lotus.<\/p>\n

In an interview with British GQ published this month, Ms Wood explained how comments from White Lotus creator Mike White about ‘fighting’ the studio to cast her had left her feeling insecure.<\/p>\n

‘When someone (not a producer) told me Mike fought for me it was said in a nice way,’ she said.<\/p>\n

‘I just spiralled about it because of my own imposter syndrome.<\/p>\n

‘My little head goes “HBO didn’t want me. And I know why HBO didn’t want me, it’s because I’m ugly”.<\/p>\n

She continued: ‘Mike had to say, “please let me have the ugly girl!” That was the thing that was in my head.’<\/p>\n

Aimee has since clarified however, that HBO had been incredibly supportive of her.<\/p>\n

If you have been affected by anything in this article please contact Samaritans by calling 116 123 or emailing jo@samaritans.org\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"She earned a legion of fans \u2013 and an Emmy nomination \u2013 with her performance in The White…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169635,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[73726,6491,97,96,478,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-169634","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-aimee-lou-wood","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-dailymail","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-tvshowbiz","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}