Was Calista Flockhart Anorexic?

In a recent interview with The New York Times, Calista Flockhart reflected on the “painful” rumors spread in the late ‘90s and early aughts that she was anorexic while starring on Ally McBeal. The Birdcage actor told the outlet that she doesn’t think the same thing “would ever happen today.”

“They call it body-shaming now,” she told the outlet. “I haven’t thought about it in a long time, but it’s really not OK to accuse someone of having a disease that a lot of people struggle with.”

The Things You Can Tell Just By Looking at Her actor continued, “It wasn’t the case, and there was nothing I could do to convince anybody or get out of it … I was an easy target, I guess. It was painful, it was complicated. I loved working on ‘Ally McBeal,’ and it just made it sour.”

Flockhart also shared how the comments affected her mental health. “I was very sleep-deprived and I was depressed about it. I did think that it was going to ruin my career,” she added. “I didn’t think anybody would ever hire me again, because they would just assume I had anorexia, and that would be the end of that.”