Oh look, I have splinters in my arse. Better get off that fence.
While I do, check this out. During an interview with Esquire magazine to promote her new movie Chloe, US actress Amanda Seyfriend (Mean Girls, Mama Mia, Dear John) bitched about her diet and said that all she got to eat the day before was “spinach and some seeds”. Mmmm, tasty.
And that’s not even what this post is about. It’s what happened next that was interesting.
As Anna North from Jezebel reports….
Amanda Seyfried recently complained to Esquire about her spinach-based diet but we’re more drawn to the fact that she downed pills — birth control and, more interestingly, Lexapro — in front of her interviewer.The diet, perhaps, is symptomatic of Seyfried’s anxiety issues; she told Esquire, “It’s intense. And sort of awful. Yesterday for lunch? Spinach. Just spinach. Spinach and some seeds.” But more unusual is this bit:
The anxiety rises in her as she speaks, and she cracks open her purse, shakes a Lexapro into her hand. She halves it, then pops a birth-control pill from its foil pack and swallows both. “Yeah, yeah, I’m anxious,” she says. “And yes, I use birth control.”
Now, Lexapro is mainly an antidepressant, meaning it can treat anxiety disorders but not necessarily acute anxiety attacks — so interviewer Tom Chiarella’s suggestion that she popped it to quell “rising anxiety” may be a little off-base. But it’s perhaps precisely because they’re often misunderstood that it’s a little surprising to see a star taking psychoactive meds in front of a reporter. (The birth control pill is a whole ‘nother kettle of fish.) Seyfried is 24 — is it possible that among the MySpaceBook generation we hear so much about, both sex and antidepressants have lost their stigma?
This raises a few interesting questions. Amanda’s personal situation aside (I don’t believe anything that happens in an interview is an accident, I have only been interviewed once for a profile like that and I freaked out about every minor detail and I’m not even an internationally famous actress), is it a good thing to be open about things like birth control and medication?
Is a blase attitude to both the best way to normalise contraception, anti-depression and anxiety? I still get embarrassed when my tampons fall out of my handbag (which they do with alarming frequency) so I’m not sure I’d be chugging back my pills in front of a stranger, let alone a stranger who is taking notes.
What are you comfortable doing in front of friends? Strangers? And what will you only do behind closed doors?
Top Comments
Hurrah, that
What I find interesting is that people don't make the connection between birth control pills and anxiety. The synthetic hormones in birth control pills are known for altering a woman's natural hormonal balance resulting in mood swings, anxiety, depression, a feeling of "numbness", loss of sex drive and those are only the obvious side effects. I am all for contraception but I strongly feel that the Pill, even the low dose ones, are harmful for women and it's sad that doctors prescribe them using the argument that "millions of women all over the world take them without issues". Most, like Amanda Seyfried probably, are not even aware that what is causing their depression or anxiety are those birth control pills.
There are other options out there: copper IUD is one. There is also the fertility awareness method which is amazingly simple once you understand your ovulation pattern (and for those who say that you can't know when you are going to ovulate, there are even pee sticks you can use that detect the hormone your body releases prior to ovulation).
All I am saying is that I wish more women would think twice before taking birth control pills. Doctors are not evil but they also don't like to think outside the box... of pharmaceuticals that is.