Harry Potter star Evanna Lynch still has a ‘negative voice’ in her head after years of battling an eating disorder
The 27-year-old revealed how she keeps a diary when she's feeling low and wrote an entry ‘filled with self hate’ just one week before landing a place in US dance show Dancing With the Stars
IRISH Harry Potter star Evanna Lynch has told how she still has a 'negative voice' in her head – after years of battling an eating disorder.
The 27-year-old revealed how she has keeps a diary and wrote an entry ‘filled with self hate’ just one week before landing a place in US dance show Dancing With the Stars.
But the Louth star – who rose to fame as Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter franchise – says she combats her negative thoughts by surrounding herself with people she loves.
Speaking on The Ryan Tubridy Show on RTE Radio 1, Evanna said: "I still have those days, you do recover from an eating disorder but the negative voice in your head, the one that's always wanting to bring you down, that's something you're always going to have to manage.
"I have days where I'm writing in my diary and I'm just filled with so much self-hate.
"I tend to write in my diary either when I'm going through a bad relationship or when I'm feeling really down.
"I was going through my diary recently and a week before I got this job, I was writing really negative mean things to myself.
"It was crazy, something can happen and you can turn it around really really quickly and you can choose to put your energy into that instead."
Ryan told Evanna that they received a letter from a desperate mum last week whose daughter was self-harming as a result of being bullied.
And Evanna offered her some sound advice after going through a similar situation herself.
She said: "When you're a teenager, it feels like you can never find your way out of it.
"One really important thing that I found is to surround yourself with positive people who make you feel good about yourself.
"That changes your outlook so much when you're with people who love you.
"You have to chose to fall in love with something else, to put your energy in to the things you love rather than the things you hate about yourself.”
Rather than pursue acting, Evanna told how she always wanted to be a professional dancer when she grew up.
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Landing a part in Harry Potter as kooky teen witch, Luna Lovegood, scuppered her plans to pursue her passion.
But now Evanna is in the running to secure one of the last four places in next week's Dancing with the Stars final.
She added: "I love dancing and I've always been like, 'Please, can I be on that show? So it just kind of worked out this year. I got a week's notice and came over and I couldn't wait to jump in."