'I was very sleep-deprived': Calista Flockhart opens up on eating disorder, says she thought 'it was going to ruin my career'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Calista Flockhart recently revealed that repeated eating disorder left her “sleep-deprived” and “depressed” during the time she was filming legal drama 'Ally McBeal.' During an interview with The New York Times on Friday, January 26, The Golden Globes Award winner said, "I loved working on ‘Ally McBeal,’ and it just made it sour."
“I was very sleep-deprived and I was depressed about it,” she said, adding “I did think that it was going to ruin my career. I didn’t think anybody would ever hire me again, because they would just assume I had anorexia, and that would be the end of that.”
Calista Flockhart was reportedly battling anorexia for five years
Flockhart is five feet five inches tall with her weight widely reported to be around 110 lbs. 'Ally McBeal' aired on Fox from 1997 until 2002 and also starred Greg Germann, Jane Krakowski, Gil Bellows, Lucy Liu, Peter MacNicol and Courtney Thorne-Smith.
For the entire five years of filming, the anorexia reports followed Flockhart. “I had days where I was really hurt and embarrassed and infuriated,” she said, adding “I was lucky that I had to work. I just put my head down. I always felt like, ‘Calista, you’re a good person, you’re not mean to anybody,’ and I’m confident in that.”
Calista Flockhart says 'I just have small bones'
Flockhart told the outlet that if 'Ally McBeal' aired today, mean-spirited reports about her weight would not surface. “They call it body-shaming now. I haven’t thought about it in a long time, but it’s really not OK to accuse someone of having a disease that a lot of people struggle with,” the mother-of-one said.
She added that she has “never been in a situation where I have to watch my weight.” “I just have small bones,” she shrugged, adding “I just am lucky.”
Calista Flockhart previously admitted the stress of filming left her without appetite
Flockhart admitted back in 2006 that the stress of filming 'Ally McBeal' left her without an appetite. “At the time of all that, I was seriously stressed,” she told the Mirror at the time. “I was working 15-hour days on the set and then I was dealing with the end of the show, which was basically my life," she said.
“I started under-eating, over-exercising, pushing myself too hard and brutalizing my immune system. I guess I just didn’t find the time to eat. I am much more healthy these days," she added.
The 59-year-old who tied the knot to Harrison Ford in 2010 is now back in the spotlight with a role in the FX series 'Feud: Capote vs The Swans' appearing alongside Naomi Watts, Demi Moore and Diane Lane.
