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Sally Field Reveals Battle With Depression — “I Was Suffering So Badly”
Sally Field has bravely opened up about her past battle with depression.
In a revealing new interview, the 70-year-old actress confessed she endured mental health issues while starring on the hit 1960s show The Flying Nun at age 19. Sally appeared as Sister Bertrille on the sitcom from 1967 until 1970.
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“I was suffering so badly. I was so depressed. It was like a sword into your gut. It was the first time I felt the feeling. You feel some part of you just laid down and died,” Sally said.
Sally on The Flying Nun in 1969.
“There’s nothing quite as lonely in life as not even having contact with yourself,” the mom-of-three — she has sons Peter, 47, Eli, 44, and Samuel, 29 — added.
Her battle with depression also unfortunately led Sally to develop an eating disorder, which she suffered from for three years.
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“I was so depressed — that kind of depression [where] you gain 20 pounds in two seconds,” Sally said, admitting she battled bulimia. “Everybody then was Twiggy except me. I felt immensely unattractive.”
“There was so much pressure on her to make the show a success,” Sally’s Flying Nun co-star Shelley Morrison — who played Sister Sixto on the sitcom — exclusively told Closer Weekly. “When you’re so talented but not given the opportunity to express that and you’re just going along with it, it weighs on you.”
Sally reunited with former co-star Madeleine in 2000.
“The show was sweet, but let’s face it: The series wasn’t Tennessee Williams,” Shelley added.
Thankfully, another one of Sally’s other co-stars, Madeleine Sherwood, came to her aid and helped her through this tough time. “She literally took me by the hand to the Actor’s Studio,” Sally recalled. “And it began to really change my life.”
“[Madeleine] really took Sally under her wing,” Shelley told Closer. “She allowed Sally’s talent to reach amazing heights.”
For more on Sally, pick up the latest issue of Closer Weekly, on newsstands now!
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