Alison Brie gets candid about depression, body dysmorphia struggles

Alison Brie covers the May issue of Women’s HealthAingeru Zorita for Women’s Health While Netflix’s “GLOW” has helped Alison Brie learn to appreciate her body, the 37-year-old actress said she “still” struggles with body dysmorphia. “I go back to red carpet photos where I thought I looked so horrible, and there are some where I …

While Netflix’s “GLOW” has helped Alison Brie learn to appreciate her body, the 37-year-old actress said she “still” struggles with body dysmorphia.

“I go back to red carpet photos where I thought I looked so horrible, and there are some where I now think, ‘God, I looked beautiful.’ And I’ll remember: An hour before that I was in tears; I thought I was so disgusting,” Brie said in the May issue of Women’s Health.

She continued, “I think it’s something I’ll probably be working through my whole life. And depression, too.”

Brie divulged her family also grappled with mental illness, noting her maternal grandmother had schizophrenia.

“The rest of my family then dealt with the trickle-down effects of trauma,” Brie explained. “And that meant depression more than anything.”

According to the actress, when she has been faced with “really serious depression” in the past, she’s turned to physical activity.

“I’ll drag myself to a yoga class — even if I don’t want to be around people — tears streaming down my face. But, ‘Get in class, get out of your head, get blood flowing.’ It ends up helping eventually,” she said.

Brie said she’s also relied on husband Dave Franco, 34, as a source of support.

“We have great lines of communication, and I can talk often about my feelings,” she explained, noting the couple of three years has had candid conversations.

“It’s been funny talking to him about it. He said, ‘Before I knew you, I’m not sure I believed body dysmorphia was a real thing. It’s so interesting to me what you see — and what I’m seeing when I’m looking at you — and the frank discussions we have about it,’” she said.

In 2017, Brie spoke about stripping down on-camera, telling The Edit at the time: “It was important that the show be a realistic portrayal of life in the way people live and the way they have sex.”

She added, “And also that our show be about every aspect of women’s bodies, and women not being ashamed of their bodies. We’re not being shot in a way that’s over-sexualizing us, or exploiting us. I found it very freeing and empowering, and I’m so glad that I did it.”

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