Lili Reinhart reveals she developed an eating disorder while filming ‘Riverdale’
Trigger warning: This story contains mentions of eating disorders.
Lili Reinhart revealed she struggled with gut issues and developed an eating disorder while she was filming the sixth season of Riverdale.
The 28-year-old actress opened up about her health struggles in the past years and how she’s taking charge of them, including developing an eating disorder when she was working on Riverdale.
“I really don’t like looking at season six imagery or pictures, because I know that 99% of my thoughts were about my body,” she said in an interview with SELF Magazine published on Jan. 22.
“I was a thousand percent just disassociated through that entire day or scene because my entire inner dialogue is just…‘Your body’s changing," she added.
Before this, Lili, who played Betty Cooper in the series, shared that she also had gut issues. Consequently, she needed to be tested for Celiac disease where an affected individual develops intolerance to gluten, and Crohn’s disease, which causes inflammation in the digestive tract.
This is not the first time that the actress opened up about body dysmorphia. In a guesting for Dax Shepard’s podcast in 2022, she shared how she had “obsessive thoughts” about her body.
“I just started to gain weight naturally...and it felt like I couldn’t get a handle on it," she revealed. “I was going through these obsessive thoughts about my body, about what I was eating, about all these things, and I couldn’t do it in the privacy of my own home,” she said.
She recounted instances where she felt intensely self-conscious, especially when people would stare at her and or after a fitting.
“I would text my mom immediately. I was seeing a trainer. I was trying to eat better. I was doing everything I could. It was obsessive,” the actress continued, lamenting how she couldn’t take a break to take care of herself.
“I had to keep showing up on camera, and it felt like a big betrayal to my body almost to be like, ‘I’m so sorry we can’t go through this journey in private,’” she added.
Lili has always been vocal about her physical and mental health challenges. In 2020, she got real on X about being intimidated by her Riverdale co-stars whenever she needed to do an underwear scene.
“Actually, not everyone on this show is perfectly chiseled. And even I feel intimidated by the physique of my surrounding cast mates sometimes when I have to do bra/underwear scenes,” she previously wrote on X.
“I’ve felt very insecure due to the expectation that people have for women on TV, what they should look like. But I have come to terms with my body and that I’m not the kind of person you would see walking on a runway during fashion week. I have bigger boobs, I have cellulite on my thighs/butt, and my stomach sticks out rather than curves in,” she added.
Lili is also known for her roles in Chemical Hearts, Hustlers, and Look Both Ways.
