Brittany Snow is reflecting on her recovery journey, years after speaking candidly about body image struggles, anorexia and exercise bulimia.
The actress, 40, opened her Instagram message with a content warning for followers. “TW: ED,” she wrote, clarifying, “trigger warning: eating disorder.”
“Today, September 17th, marks 17 years of recovery for me,” Snow wrote Thursday. “I’ve heard they call that a golden anniversary. And somehow, that feels fitting.”
Snow connected the milestone to her 2023 film Parachute, which centers on the day she chose to stop “hurting” herself. It was, she said, “the day I chose to bet on myself, even when I couldn’t yet imagine what a life on the other side might look like.”
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Looking back on the beginning of her eating disorder recovery, Snow said she could not envision the life she has now. “Seventeen years ago, I didn’t know if I would make it. I couldn’t see a future, and I certainly couldn’t imagine one where I would learn to be kind to myself,” she shared. “If someone had told me then that I would not only live, but one day have a beautiful, full life, free from the cycle of self-destruction and my eating disorder… I truly don’t think I would have believed them.”
The Pitch Perfect star credited friends and family with helping her through that difficult period, as well as an inner voice that kept urging her: “Don’t give up. There is so much more to your story.”
“There was so much beauty ahead that I couldn’t see yet. So much love,” Snow wrote. “And one of the greatest gifts of making it through is being able to turn around and share the hope I couldn’t see possible.”
Snow ended the post with words of support for anyone currently facing similar challenges. “If you’re struggling right now, please know you are not alone. So many people have stood where you are standing. There is life beyond the place you are in today, even if you can’t picture it yet,” she wrote. “One day, the story you fought so hard to keep living may become the very story someone else needs to hear.”
“I’m 17 years on the other side today. I’m so grateful I stayed ✨✨✨,” she added.
Snow has been candid about her eating disorder through the years. In 2025, she opened up to Self about undergoing treatments to also combat depression and self-harm.
“I had so much disdain for my body and I couldn’t see myself as a functional, beautiful being. I only saw the things that were wrong with me,” she recalled.
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Snow ultimately overcame her disorder by talking to herself “like a kid.”
“I’d be like, ‘OK, baby girl, do you want a bagel? Let’s get you a bagel. We’re going to toast it. We’re going to put some cream cheese on it. Is that all you can eat? OK, that’s OK.’”
Eventually, she realized that she was hearing “whatever [she] wanted.” She added, “I was talking to myself like someone I loved. And then I just never stopped doing that.”
If you or someone you know struggles with an eating disorder, visit the National Alliance for Eating Disorders website or call their hotline at (866) 662-1235. Text “ALLIANCE” to 741741 for free, 24/7 support.