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'Clueless' Actress Elisa Donovan Says She 'Almost Had a Heart Attack' Due to Severe Anorexia

'Clueless' Actress Elisa Donovan Says She 'Almost Had a Heart Attack' Due to Severe Anorexia

Elisa Donovan is opening up about her past battle with anorexia.

In an interview on the Celebrity Catch Up: Life After That Thing I Did podcast, the 50-year-old actress revealed she almost suffered a heart attack while filming Clueless as a result of her severe eating disorder.

“I was suffering greatly from anorexia, and I had been in denial about it,” Elisa recalled. “I had maybe three or four days off in one week, and I almost had a heart attack.”

Elisa, who played Amber Mariens in the 1995 teen comedy, went on to add that a friend had to rush her to an urgent care center at the time.

“The doctor started talking to me about eating disorders and all these things,” Elisa shared. “And I said, ‘Well you’re crazy,’ because I thought I was too fat to be anorexic, which is part of the malady.”

“At that moment, I was so afraid I was going to lose my job,” she continued. “My life had started taking off in the way I wanted it to with my career, and I was concerned that this was now suddenly going to prevent me from that.”

After that, Elisa said that she knew she needed to get help with her food issues.

“Initially, the only reason I started to really get help was because I was worried I’d not be able to continue,” Elisa explained. “But then ultimately, that isn’t what helps you to recover. It has to come from a more pure place of wanting to be better.”

Elisa then added that she decided to seek treatment “in the middle of shooting” Clueless.

“It changed my life in a lot of ways,” Elisa said of the film. “It helped me to get healthy.”

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Posted to: Elisa Donovan