Christopher Eccleston is just as beloved as other Doctors of the modern series of Doctor Who, with fans often lamenting that he only served one single season in the TARDIS. Over time, he’s opened up about his reasons for leaving, previously touching on the disagreements with BBC bosses that caused him to vacate the role. But the actor has now spoken about the struggle with anorexia and mental health issues he was battling at the time as well, and for long afterwards.
In his new autobiography I Love The Bones Of You, Eccleston explains that he’s never talked publicly about his lifelong suffering from body dysmorphia due to his belief that it was a “filthy secret.”
“Many times I’ve wanted to reveal that I’m a lifelong anorexic and dysmorphic. I never have. I always thought of it as a filthy secret, because I’m Northern, because I’m male and because I’m working-class.”
He goes on to admit that it was particularly bad during his days as the Ninth Doctor. Eccleston says he’s been praised for his appearance on the show, but in reality, his illness was “raging” during this time of his life.
“The illness is still there raging within me as the Doctor. People love the way I look in that series, but I was very ill. The reward for that illness was the part. And therein lies the perpetuation of the whole sorry situation.”
He also goes on to speak plainly of how he was diagnosed with clinical depression earlier this decade, after having checked himself into a psychiatric hospital upon developing suicidal thoughts.
For Doctor Who fans and admirers of the great actor, this makes for tough information to absorb. Yet Eccleston should be commended for speaking out about something that many also suffer from but are too scared to discuss. The Doctor herself would certainly be proud.