Heavy/Hallmark Rhiannon Fish has starred in Hallmark movies including "Nikki & Nora: Sister Sleuths"
Posting a heartbreaking video to her Instagram Stories on September 14, 2023, Hallmark star Rhiannon Fish gave fans a raw look inside her struggles with anxiety, depression and other mental health challenges — including a difficult new diagnosis. In the video, the actress was seen weeping as she sat in the back of a car, trying through her tears to describe how low she felt at that moment.
Fish, 32, bravely shared the heart-wrenching video in honor of a day set aside by Australian wellness organization “R U OK” to encourage deeper discussions and support around mental health. The actress, who was born in Canada but grew up in Australia, said she is feeling better than she did at the time the video was taken, but also revealed that she was recently diagnosed with OCD, or obsessive-compulsive disorder.
The Mayo Clinic describes OCD as a disorder that “features a pattern of unwanted thoughts and fears (obsessions) that lead you to do repetitive behaviors (compulsions). These obsessions and compulsions interfere with daily activities and cause significant distress.”
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Rhiannon Fish Shares Video of Emotionally Difficult Night
In the undated video Fish shared, filmed at night as she sat in a vehicle wearing a black parka with her hair pulled back and tears flowing down her face, her voice trembled as she spoke.
“It’s like being, like, disposable,” she began. “Like, you know, that’s how it feels. It makes me feel disposable.”
Weeping and looking out the car window, she then continued, “It’s hard, dude. Like, do you ever wonder? Like, why do I keep getting it so wrong?”
Over the video, Fish tagged the R U OK Day account 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.”
“It’s hard to describe how completely isolating all of these things can feel,” she continued. “Especially when your brain tries to convince you that ‘you are not enough.'”
Fish urged her followers to seek help if they could relate, and to check in on their friends who might be struggling, revealing that she is in a much better place now.
“Please check in on people, please be kind and NEVER be afraid to ask for help,” she wrote. “Therapy and the ‘right’ medicine have completely changed my life. That doesn’t mean some days aren’t hard…but thankfully they are few and far between. #ruokayday”
Fish didn’t provide additional details about her OCD diagnosis, but Mayo Clinic says the most common treatments are medications and a type of psychotherapy called cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), including “exposure and response prevention” training (ERP).
Rhiannon Fish Has Spoken Out About Mental Health Before: ‘I Struggled Immensely’
Fish, who has appeared in multiple Hallmark movies including April’s “Picture of Her” with Tyler Hynes, has been open in the past about her mental health challenges. 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, 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 added that she saw her new therapist weekly and also attended group therapy each week with a group of “like-minded women going through the same kinds of struggles,” which she said made her feel “less alone.”
In January 2023, she told Digital Journal that another one of her tools for feeling good is practicing gratitude.
“I really try to find a balance, and appreciating everything that I do,” she said. “As an actor, you need to have a sense of gratitude for every moment when you feel successful. Whenever you are grateful, everything feels like a success.”
According to the Daily Mail, Fish will be back in Australia in October, filming a new rom-com called “He Loves Me Not” on Queensland‘s K’gari Fraser Island. The outlet said she’ll play an American contestant who signs up for a dating reality show like “The Bachelor” to make money, but winds up falling in love. It’s not known yet whether that movie will air on Hallmark like July’s “Spring Into Love” did, which was another movie she filmed in Australia.