Beloved actress Brittany Snow landed her first major role as a preteen on the daytime soap opera, “Guiding Light.”
In the more than three decades since, Snow has become a household name for her roles in films such as “John Tucker Must Die,” “Hairspray,” and the “Pitch Perfect” film series.
However, according to the now-40-year-old star, her life wasn’t all perfect in her younger years. Snow opened up in a vulnerable social media post about her eating disorder recovery journey.
Recovery Milestone
Alongside a picture of a strip of photobooth photos, Snow revealed that she has been in recovery for 17 years.
“Today, September 17th, marks 17 years of recovery for me. I’ve heard they call that a golden anniversary. And somehow, that feels fitting,” she captioned the Instagram post. “My movie, ‘Parachute’, is about this very day, the day I made the decision to stop hurting myself. The day I chose to bet on myself, even when I couldn’t yet imagine what a life on the other side might look like.”
She continued, “Seventeen years ago, I didn’t know if I would make it. I couldn’t see a future, and I certainly couldn’t imagine one where I would learn to be kind to myself. If someone had told me then that I would not only live, but one day have a beautiful, full life, free from the cycle of self-destruction and my eating disorder… I truly don’t think I would have believed them.”
Snow’s message was in an effort to help others who may be experiencing a similar disorder, as she added, “Please know you are not alone.”
“My friends saw me, heard me, helped me. My family loved me through it. And somewhere underneath the noise, there was a tiny voice inside me that kept saying: don’t give up. There is so much more to your story,” the “Hunting Wives” actress added. “There was so much beauty ahead that I couldn’t see yet. So much love. And one of the greatest gifts of making it through is being able to turn around and share the hope I couldn’t see possible.”
Staying Strong
One year ago, as she neared the 16th anniversary of her recovery journey, Snow explained that her eating disorder was “very based on connection to achievement.”
“I got a milkshake if I did well on an audition, and I wouldn’t get a milkshake if I didn’t do well,” she told Alex Cooper during an August 2025 appearance on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast.
She added at the time, “I think my reward center got all mixed up. Couple that with the terrible amount of societal norms of how you look at yourself being a woman … that was hard.”
Snow was famously hospitalized in her late teens for anorexia.
“I was about 110 lbs. when I went in. Being anorexic doesn’t necessarily mean you’re on the brink of death,” she wrote in an essay for People in 2007. “It can mean that you were once at a dangerous weight and that mentality is still with you.”
Now, Snow is happily starring in the hit Netflix series—which is set to premiere its second season in November—and is engaged to photographer and cinematographer Hunter Moreno.
