Alyson Stoner Was Underweight and Worked Out 7 Hours a Day at a ‘Medical Weight-Loss Camp’ amid Eating Disorder Struggle

NEED TO KNOW

• Alyson Stoner wrote about how they went to a “medical weight loss camp” — even though they were underweight — in a bid to land the role of Katniss in The Hunger Games amid their struggle with an eating disorder

• In an excerpt from the Disney alum’s upcoming memoir, Semi-Well-Adjusted Despite Literally Everything, Stoner shares that their body went into “starvation mode” after two weeks of “seven hours of daily exercise on a calorie deficit”

• After no word from producers about whether or not they were moving forward in the audition process, Stoner wrote that they fell into “a black hole of self-hatred” after “the biggest binge of my life”

Alyson Stoner says preparing for a Hunger Games audition amid their eating disorder struggle triggered them to go into “starvation move” until they “completed the biggest binge of my life.”

The Cheaper by the Dozen star, 31, shared an excerpt from their upcoming memoir, Semi-Well-Adjusted Despite Literally Everything, to Vanity Fair, in which they detail the lengths they went to to play Katniss in The Hunger Games — a role that would eventually go to Jennifer Lawrence.

Stoner, who has been open about how child stardom fueled their eating disorder, wrote that, because “Katniss was characteristically thin—not starving, but small,” they felt compelled to “commit to strenuous training without fully succumbing to my eating disorder” for the role — one they admitted was a “long shot.”

Desperate to play Katniss, “I convinced a world-renowned medical weight loss camp to approve me — while I was underweight and only 17 years old — to join a program for two weeks of seven hours of daily exercise on a calorie deficit,” Stoner wrote, explaining that they rationalized it as being there “to build muscle, not slim down.”

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What followed was an intense workout and diet plan: “Doctors and trainers should’ve never permitted an underweight minor to do seven hours of fourteen-mile hikes, heavy lifting, and high-intensity cardio. But all I had to say was that I was training for an acting role,” Stoner wrote.

After two weeks, “my arms and abs could cut glass” — and Stoner was “hooked” on the “extreme regimen,” even as it was destroying their health: “My immune system weakened and my adrenals were depleted from overtraining. I tweaked my tricep and fractured a finger. But I pushed through the fatigue and lightheadedness, even after catching a flu bug that lingered for three weeks.”

Soon, Stoner tested positive for strep and auditioned for the role of Katniss while on antibiotics. But when Stoner didn’t hear whether or not they’d continued to the next round, they continued their strict workout and diet plan, with “my body entering starvation mode and screaming for calories. After a week, I teetered past the edge of deprivation into a full-body emergency alarm for food.”

A few snacks led to Stoner being unable to “abstain” from food, which they said was “whatever was in reach,” until they’d “completed the biggest binge of my life.”

Twelve hours afterwards, Stoner said they were left with “a revolting migraine and lethargy,” craving sugar — and having to “face the self-inflicted damage.” They stepped on the scale and learned they’d gained all the weight lost over the last two months. “My body had held on to every morsel of food and liquid ounce, unsure when it would be fed again. All my progress was erased,” Stoner wrote.

It triggered Stoner “falling into a black hole of self-hatred” — right as they learned they weren’t in contention as Katniss. “I didn’t know what to do with myself,” they wrote.

Stoner’s memoir, Semi-Well-Adjusted Despite Literally Everything, will hit bookstores Aug. 12.

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.

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