Shailene Woodley Reveals the Mysterious Health Problems She Dealt With While Filming the ‘Divergent’ Series

Actor Shailene Woodley is opening up about multiple debilitating symptoms she experienced while filming the popular “Divergent” films several years ago. The 32-year-old shares her health battles on the latest episode of the SHE MD podcast.

“I haven’t spoken about what exactly it was because that feels like a personal thing that I don’t need to disclose,” Woodley tells the podcast hosts. “But essentially…in my early 20s…It got to the point where I was losing my hearing. I couldn’t walk for longer than five minutes at a time without having to lay down for hours and hours and hours and sleep. Everything I ate hurt my stomach.”

Woodley also shares that she had to visit several doctors before she was able to get a proper diagnosis. “It was this conflation of issues and diagnoses and different doctors telling me different things,” Woodley recalls, which prompted her to tackle the issue from several different angles. “I come from a very holistic background and studied herbalism, so I was really keen on, ‘Alright, I’m gonna work with real MDs and I’m gonna work with independent healers.’”

“I couldn’t walk for more than five minutes at a time without having to lay down for hours and hours and hours and sleep.”

“I was just trying to search for some sense of comfort in my own skin,” she adds. “It was a long journey.”

Woodley says her physical health issues also took a toll on her mental health. Her stomach issues, for example, led to a fear of food, and she also struggled with body dysmorphia—where you fixate on a perceived flaw in your appearance—as well as confusion about her identity.

Thankfully, Woodley says she’s no longer sick, and that the health issues eventually resolved on their own. “I am very healthy. I’m so happy to be able to say that,” she shares. And there’s even a silver lining to her experience: “It forced me to really take a deep look and become introspective.”