Normal People's Daisy Edgar-Jones bravely opens up about her anxiety
Actress Daisy Edgar-Jones, best known for playing Marianne in Normal People (which American viewers have started watching with subtitles), has opened up about her anxiety, hypochondria and facing rejection.
In her appearance on Elizabeth Day's How To Fail podcast, the rising star gave a candid insight into the pressures of auditions and the impact that the process had on her mental health. Daisy shared that part of the reason she became so anxious after losing out on a role was because she'd made the decision not to attend university, in favour of following her ambition to act.
"When I left school I got quite good A-levels, and I really thought about going [to university]," she told Elizabeth. "I did apply to a few places and got in, but I'd had an agent since I was 16... so I thought I'd give it a year to see if I could maybe get something. It's so difficult because it's never guaranteed."
Explaining how difficult it was for her to break into the industry, Daisy said, "By the end of the year I'd gotten another couple of small parts but nothing like Normal People, so I thought I'd keep trying.
"It's like dating, it's heartbreaking [when you lose out at an audition] and there's the odd one that's really hard to get over and sometimes when I didn't get those parts I'd spiral into doubts about whether I should go to university."
Marianne having a breather 🌞 @endabowe
A post shared by Daisy Edgar-Jones (@daisyedgarjones) on May 1, 2020 at 3:05am PDT
As well as this, Daisy opened up about how her anxiety also lead her to become concerned with her health. "I auditioned and I got close and I found that very anxiety making and I really struggled for a while. When I feel anxious it comes out in different ways from me and one of the ways is hypochondria."
Like many with the condition, Daisy said she would do things like repeatedly Google symptoms. "It comes in waves, I've had it for a while. It's my way of dealing with anxiety, it comes out in a need to control... If I saw a rash for example, if I really overthink that and Google the heck out of it, then I'm controlling it in some way.
"[I think] if I find out it's sinister, I've caught it before it becomes something worse and I'd become quite obsessive." She also described a time she feared she'd had an allergic reaction to mouthwash and praised her boyfriend for helping to calm her down.
People who suffer with health anxiety often report obsessing over bodily functions such as their heartbeat or physical discomfort e.g. headaches or stomach aches. They can also fixate on a specific organ or an illness they've read about or seen on TV. Those thoughts can then become all-consuming. Typically, the disorder occurs in adolescents or young adults and is more prominent in women.
Cosmopolitan UK's June issue is on sale now - buy it online with FREE next day delivery or subscribe here to get 6 issues for just £6!
Like this article? Sign up to our newsletter to get more articles like this delivered straight to your inbox.
You Might Also Like
