Shailene Woodley lost her hearing on the set of the film series “Divergent” – and that wasn’t the only health problem.
US actress Shailene Woodley (32) reveals serious health problems during filming for the film series “Divergent”. The “Big Little Lies” actress also revealed that her health problems at the time also cost her jobs. Woodley played the main character Beatrice Prior in the sci-fi franchise in “Divergent”, “Insurgent” and “Allegiant” from 2014 to 2016.
Symptoms: hearing loss, weakness, stomach pain, anxiety
“I’ve never spoken about what exactly it was because it feels like a personal thing that I don’t need to reveal,” Woodley said on the podcast about the distressing period. “In my early 20s, I was in an unfortunate position. At one point, I lost my hearing. I couldn’t walk for more than five minutes at a time without laying down and sleeping for hours. Everything I ate hurt my stomach,” she recalled.
She then went to various medical professionals, from “real doctors” to “independent healers,” but found it difficult to find a diagnosis for her condition. “It was a mix of problems and diagnoses, and different doctors told me different things,” said the Californian. “I come from a very holistic background and studied herbalism, so I was really keen to work with real doctors and independent healers. I wanted to feel comfortable in my own skin again. It was a long journey,” she admitted.
Woodley explained that her physical issues also caused her to struggle mentally. The actress thought that anything she did could somehow make her symptoms worse. “Over the course of that decade, a lot of other things came along because I was so physically uncomfortable: ‘If everything I eat hurts my stomach, I’m afraid to eat,'” she recalled. “And then the mental issues that can come with that – body dysmorphia and confusion about identity and feeling safe in my own world,” she described the complicated situation.
Shailene Woodley today: “I am very healthy”
The actress further clarified that she is no longer sick today. The problem “solved itself”. “I’m very healthy. I’m so happy to be able to say that. And it’s also forced me to really look at myself in depth,” Woodley said in the podcast.
The actress first spoke about her health problems in 2020. “While I was filming the ‘Divergent’ movies and working hard, I was also struggling with a deeply personal, very scary physical situation,” she told the paper at the time. “Because of this, I turned down many professional opportunities because I needed to recover, and those jobs ended up going to colleagues I love.”
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
