Jessie Buckley: How Acting Helped an Irish Actress Overcome an Eating Disorder

Jessie Buckley said acting was “like water to me” as she described how passion for music and theatre helped her overcome an eating disorder and depression in her teenage years. The 36-year-old from Killarney, County Kerry, now living in Norfolk, has gone on to receive major awards and is in the running for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Agnes Hathaway in the film adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel.

How did Jessie Buckley say acting helped her recovery?

Buckley spoke about the role of performance in her life in a long-form radio interview with presenter Lauren Laverne. She described acting as essential to her wellbeing, saying that the more she performed the more she realised it was vital: “It was like drinking water, you know? I just think, the more I did it, the more I realised, this is essential to me. ” That passion became a reason to keep going when illness and despair made everyday life hard.

She has spoken candidly about the combination of an eating disorder and depression, and how recovery “took time, and it took a lot of help. ” Buckley said she has been in therapy since she was 17 and still attends weekly sessions, and she thanked the people who “held space” for her as she recovered. At moments when she feared losing her ability to sing and act, she told herself she would not sacrifice that; “this is bigger than that, ” she said, and that conviction helped her prevail.

What personal pressures did she describe, and what changed as her career grew?

Buckley recalled early public scrutiny during her time on a televised talent search for a West End role. She said criticism of her appearance made that period painful: “I don’t like that part of it. I think that was a young woman who’s trying to discover her body and herself, like we all do. And I wish that hadn’t happened. ” She said she often put on a brave face because her real focus was on singing and acting and being part of the industry, even when the industry seemed to demand a certain look she did not have and still does not embrace.

Those early trials sit alongside more dramatic episodes: Buckley remembered an early performance when her appendix almost burst and she refused to leave the stage until the play finished; she was taken to hospital afterwards. That insistence, she suggested, revealed how indispensable performance felt to her survival and identity. Her persistence has been rewarded — she is a Mercury Music Prize–nominated singer and has collected a Golden Globe and a Bafta among other awards for her work.

What does Buckley’s story tell us about recovery and the arts?

Buckley framed her struggles as part of a human vulnerability that can be transformed. “I didn’t know how to be alive the way I wanted to be, and it was difficult, but I do not for a second regret it, ” she said, reflecting on how those experiences informed her artistry. She credited music and theatre with offering a channel for transformation rather than concealment, and she expressed gratitude for those who helped her along the way.

The arc of her story — from a young performer facing harsh scrutiny to an award-winning artist who has spoken openly about therapy and recovery — highlights how creative work and ongoing mental-health care can intersect. Buckley praised her “extraordinary” mother and named the networks of help that supported her, emphasizing therapy as a continuous part of maintaining health.

Back in the dimming heat of a theatre dressing room, the image Buckley first painted of performing “like drinking water” returns with new weight. The girl who once stood shaking on a stage has become an artist whose work and candidness about recovery now stand as part of her public life — a reminder that survival and art can feed each other even when the past is difficult to revisit.