Lucy Hale — Actress and singer known for starring as Aria in Pretty Little Liars; moved to LA at 15 to pursue acting and has worked in TV and film for nearly 20 years.
The gist
In her most candid interview to date, Lucy Hale tells Steven Bartlett about growing up in Memphis, moving to LA at 15 with her travel-nurse mother, and how her identity became fused with her career. She speaks openly about an eating disorder that began around age 13, a binge-drinking addiction she battled from age 14, and reaching just over a year of sobriety. She traces these struggles back to deep feelings of low self-worth and a belief she was undeserving of her success. Hale describes the people-pleasing, love-avoidance and inner-child work that shaped her recovery, and how she has finally found a sense of joy and peace independent of external validation.
Big reveals
- Lucy publicly discusses being sober for the first time, with just over a year of sobriety after working toward it since age 20.
- She reveals she struggled with an eating disorder from her early teens until her mid-20s, peaking when she moved to LA.
- A therapist first told her she was anorexic around age 17, which was the first time she heard the word applied to herself.
- She describes herself as a textbook binge drinker who would black out, framing alcohol as an allergy her brain cannot moderate.
- She chose to get sober on January 2nd 2022 only when she did it for herself, after failing to change for boyfriends, her mom and her career.
- She reflects that she is actually more love-avoidant than love-addicted, blowing up relationships before partners can leave her.
- Despite being objectively thin, she could not see reality and believed she was overweight, rooted in incredibly low self-worth.
Things worth remembering
- Lucy auditioned for Hannah Montana years before Miley Cyrus was cast in the role.
- Her mother cashed in her retirement and worked as a travel nurse so they could move to LA when Lucy was 15.
- Pretty Little Liars ran for around 170 episodes over eight years, from when she was 20 to 28.
- Her first series, Bionic Woman, was filmed in Vancouver, and 19 years later she returned to the exact same building.
- Her Italian boyfriend who loved food helped her recover from her eating disorder by making her enjoy eating again.
- She practices Reiki with a woman named Katie who she says senses her late grandmother Karen's energy.
- The short-lived CW show Katy Keene, set in New York, was the project that made her fall back in love with acting.
- People still call her Aria on the street, and she has worked hard across varied roles to be seen as more than that character.
- She has had three CW shows that each lasted only one season, which she calls a running joke.