‘Divergent’ Actress Shailene Woodley on Wellness After Mystery Illness

Actress Shailene Woodley revealed that she struggled physically and mentally while filming “Divergent” more than a decade ago. She was 23 at the time.
Body dysmorphia is a disorder in which someone obsesses about their appearance and perceived flaws, such as weight or pimples.
Woodley, now 33, told podcast hosts Mary Alice Haney and Dr. Thais Aliabadi that she was very sick in her 20s.
“It forced me to really take a deep look and become introspective,” she said. “That was the path for me alongside the physical healing … [and] acknowledging the mental side of the healing process for myself, which involved looking at real traumas and real PTSD that I had experienced at various times in my life.”
The environmental activist declined to disclose what caused her trauma and the resulting post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but said they had taken a toll on her physically and emotionally.
“[The trauma] got stuck in my body and affected me,” she said. “I’ve always eaten healthy, and I am very athletic. So it was a confusing process for me to go: ‘Well, what am I doing wrong? Why am I passing out every month when I get my period? Why am I hypothyroid?’”
Healing from PTSD and trauma typically involves cognitive behavioral therapy to process difficult memories and emotions, according to Raj Dasgupta, chief medical adviser for Fortune Recommends Health.
“People with unresolved trauma often develop conditions like anxiety, depression, chronic pain, digestive issues, and sleep disorders,” Dasgupta told The Epoch Times. “Mindfulness, relaxation exercises, and sometimes medication can help people manage their symptoms and feel better over time.”
Woodley also starred in the HBO drama “Big Little Lies” alongside Reese Witherspoon from 2017 to 2019. She is currently producing a biopic on the life of singer Janis Joplin, in which she will star as the legendary singer who died in 1970 at 27 years old of a heroin overdose.
In addition to fainting spells, hearing loss and being unable to walk for longer than five minutes were some of the unexplained physical symptoms Woodley said she experienced in her 20s.
“Why am I all of these things,” she recalled. “And one doctor being like, ‘It’s probably endometriosis.’ And another doctor going, ‘It’s probably this.’ And another one going: ‘It’s probably that … you have a tilted uterus. You have a heart-shaped uterus.’”
After receiving conflicting information from physicians, Woodley said she got well by taking the situation into her own hands. She said she is currently medication-free.
Dasgupta argues that it is plausible for a physician to think fainting is caused by hypothyroidism because it affects energy levels, metabolism, and blood pressure.
Hypothyroidism generally requires daily hormone replacement, while endometriosis often warrants medical or surgical intervention.
“Doctors likely considered endometriosis because it’s known to cause severe period pain, fatigue, and sometimes fainting due to the pain and inflammation,” Dasgupta said. “Fatigue is one of the most common and intense symptoms of endometriosis.”
But Woodley, without naming the mystery illness she was plagued with, said her physical symptoms were the result of being in a constant state of fight or flight.
“So many things changed for me once I started understanding that my constant anxiety of fear was the root cause of all the disruption that was occurring in my life … emotional, mentally, relationally, and physically,” she said.
“My nervous system was super sympathetic, and just like very much operating from a place of fear and a place of ‘Where’s the lion in the room?’ And constantly approaching every single moment with high alert and with red flags because I hadn’t yet established what a calm, nervous system could look like and what true safety in myself could look like.”
Woodley reiterated that she got well by approaching her health from an “internal holistic place.”
The Epoch Times reached out to Woodley for further comment but did not receive a reply by publication time.