Heavy/Hallmark Rhiannon Fish in Hallmark's "A Costa Rican Wedding"
Days before the premiere of her newest Hallmark movie, “A Costa Rican Wedding,” actress Rhiannon Fish opened up to fans in a vulnerable video about how much seeing a therapist for her eating disorder has “changed my life.”
Admitting she wasn’t sure she should share given that there’s “still so much stigma around mental health,” Fish decided it was worth it to share her experience in a video posted to her Instagram Stories on August 13, 2024, in hopes it would help at least one person going through something similar.
Rhiannon Fish Says She Used to Think She ‘Wasn’t Sick Enough’ to Need Therapy
HallmarkRhiannon Fish and Christopher Russell in Hallmark’s “A Costa Rican Wedding”
In her selfie video, edited together with clips of her talking about her experience, Fish began by saying, “I don’t know who needs to hear this. Maybe nobody does, but also maybe there is one person.”
She continued, “Just thinking to myself, ‘where would I be without my therapist?’ I started in June 2017. I remember the first time she called me, I was in a Ralph’s grocery store and I was counting calories on something. Perhaps goes without saying, she’s specifically an eating disorder therapist. Not only did she lead me through to a full recovery, she has helped me in ways that I can’t even describe.”
“It’s strange, like I already think to myself, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t post this because there’s still a stigma about mental health,'” Fish reflected. “I think anything you can say or do that makes others feel less alone has to help.”
“For a long time, I was like, ‘Oh, I’m not sick enough to need a therapist,'” Fish said, and then laughed, “I was!”
“It’s changed my life,” Fish concluded, “and if anybody is on the fence about going to therapy, go to therapy.”
Rhiannon Fish Has Discussed Her Journey With Multiple Mental Health Diagnoses
This is not the first time Fish has opened up about her personal struggles with mental health and how grateful she was for her therapist. During an appearance on The VedgeTalk podcast in 2019, she said she was making inroads at the time toward feeling more stable.
“I’ve struggled immensely in the mental health department,” she said. “But I’m getting better at talking about it because I think that’s important.”
Fish shared that two years prior, in 2017, she was in “a very, very bad place” emotionally and decided she could no longer try to fight through it on her own.
“I was like, ‘I can’t do this on my own anymore, like I need to find a therapist,’” she recalled. “And I found this wonderful woman that completely changed my life. I am such an advocate for therapy, it is so important.”
Fish shared at the time that she saw her therapist weekly and also attended weekly group therapy with a circle of “like-minded women going through the same kinds of struggles,” which she said made her feel “less alone.”
On September 14 2023, Fish shared an old video of her weeping in the backseat of a car, wondering aloud if she was simply “disposable” and wondering “why do I keep getting it so wrong?” She tagged Australia’s “R U Ok” mental health organization on its “R U Ok Day” and wrote, “As someone who struggles with anxiety, depression, a recent OCD diagnosis and a previous Eating Disorder. This day is very close to my heart.”
Fish’s latest Hallmark Channel movie, “A Costa Rican Wedding” co-starring Christopher Russell, premieres on August 17 at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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