Troian Tackles Taboos: Her Brave Confession

Troian Bellisario, a 28 year-old thriving actress, has been one of my inspirations since 2010, when she landed her breakout role as Spencer Hastings in ABC Family’s, Pretty Little Liars. Since the pilot, I have found I both related to Spencer’s perfectionistic and panicky outbreaks, as well as looked up to her perseverance and resilient skills. In fact, the reason I achieved all A’s my sophomore year was because I was trying to be a real life Spencer. I saw all of this fictional character’s strengths and believed it was possible to bring her to life. What I failed to see is that Spencer is a combination of wardrobe designers, makeup artists, scriptwriters, directors, and Troian herself. So, instead, I began to look up to Troian not for being Spencer, but for being who she really is. 

It’s funny, as I learned more about the real Troian, I realized she’s actually got quite a lot in common with her role as Spencer: “I grew up in a very wealthy family around a very wealthy group of people. My high school was a private school where you went to an Ivy League. So I grew up never being okay with a ‘B’ because a ‘B’ wasn’t good enough…and, I think Spencer is kind of in that. She’s in this beautiful, golden cage where everybody just says ‘you have everything so you have no excuse to trip up.’” This pressure put on her as an adolescent is fairly common, and going to a similar private school with similar expectations, I can easily understand how she might have felt; and why Troian chose now to finally speak up about the underlying struggles that also occurred during her own high school years.

Troian at Seventeen's cover unveil in Barnes and Noble, NY. Image source: http://justfabzz.com/

In Seventeen’s most recent issue, Troian revealed what she was like when she was 17 in her raw and personal interview. For the first time, Troian opened up about her past, more specifically, her self-destruction: “I became imprisoned.” The pressure to be perfect led to both self-harm and an eating disorder. Troian admits to Seventeen, “I started self-harming when I was a junior. I would withhold food or withhold going out with my friends, based on how well I did that day in school. It was about wanting to be perfect to everybody. I thought if I ever expressed [to my parents] any sadness or anger or anything that’s going on with me, they would disown me. I kept a lot of it bottled up inside, and it turned into self-destructive behavior.”

What I admire the most is her empowerment to speak up about what’s way too often considered a taboo topic, something swept under the rug along with other family secrets. And her honesty in sharing her story makes me love her even more. I know I’m not the only fan of hers that may be going through similar struggles, and her brave article helps us realize that we are not alone, that there is hope thanks to Troian’s openness and conquered confidence in her own skin; for she is an inspiration to all. We love you, T!