She was just 16 when a magazine published a photo of her legs with a single word written over it: cellulite.
Hayden Panettiere, who rose to fame as a child in “Remember the Titans”, said years later that the moment marked the beginning of a body dysmorphic disorder that she carried silently throughout her adolescence and adult life. As she explained to Women’s Health magazine, she learned to repeat a phrase to herself to survive those days: “beauty is an opinion, not a fact”.
The actress, who also starred in series such as “Heroes”, admitted that eating healthy became a constant battle and that stress over her appearance ended up working against her. According to the Mayo Clinic, this disorder can become chronic and even dangerous without proper treatment: those who suffer from it cannot stop thinking about a supposed physical flaw. Over time, Panettiere said she had found something more important than the mirror: the way you move through the world and the light in your eyes.
