I was diagnosed with OCD and depression, and that was a huge relief, because now my struggles had a name and could be reckoned with. With a combination of therapy and medication, I got better. I learned to love life again. My problems didn't go away, but they became much easier to face.

Shannon Purser

Categorized in : Face Life Love Depression

I felt so isolated and so unworthy of love, i just had to go to my parents and say, ‘I think I really need help or I’m going to continue to fall apart,’.

Shannon Purser

entertainment

Mental health affects every aspect of your life. It's not just this neat little issue you can put into a box.

Shannon Purser

you mental-health health life

It's just as important to be a good human being as it is to be a good actor.

Shannon Purser

human-being being good important

I totally am dorky and weird, and that's fine with me.

Shannon Purser

am weird me fine

I just think about little me - what it would have meant to me to see a chubby girl in movies and a big girl get the guy and be the princess, be the hero. I think that would've really changed a lot for me.

Shannon Purser

think me girl hero

The idea that I get to kind of redefine what is beautiful and whose story deserves to be told and showcase that you know, big women have love lives and complex colorful lives like everybody else, that's really important to me.

Shannon Purser

me women beautiful love

The most evil and insidious thing about mental illness is that it isolates us and makes us feel so different that we think no one can possibly relate.

Shannon Purser

feel think mental-illness evil

I love the nostalgic feel of the '80s and, oh, I love Winona Ryder so much. I was such a huge fan of hers growing up, so breathing the same air as her was an honor for sure.

Shannon Purser

feel growing-up honor love

I grew up in a house with all girls, so I'm used to having a lot of hormones around that can create craziness.

Shannon Purser

create up craziness house

I do think technology really has changed the way that we communicate with each other and texting can be the way to communicate and to kind of get up the nerve to say things that maybe you wouldn't say in real life, but that also comes with a price.

Shannon Purser

think you technology life

I think people find it so easy to write off teenagers and millennials as just being like these shallow, self-centered people who don't have anything real going on and who are always just on their cell phones. But being a teenager is really hard.

Shannon Purser

think real easy people

I didn't really have a normal high school experience. I was home-schooled and went to a co-op, so basically a school with about maybe 200 other home-schooled kids that would come together for classes.

Shannon Purser

high experience together school

That's what I love about movies and TV: You can go anywhere any time and be whoever you want.

Shannon Purser

movies you time love

A lot of times, gay characters are represented in unrealistic or stereotypical ways.

Shannon Purser

unrealistic characters ways gay

I was about 15 when I decided that acting was what I wanted to pursue professionally.

Shannon Purser

about pursue decided acting

When you're on stage, you're playing to whoever is in the back of the room, and TV and film is so much more detailed and nuanced, but I think that's what I always wanted to do. As much as I love theater and musical theater and would love to do it again, I really love the subtleties of film and theater acting.

Shannon Purser

back think you love

Acting isn't always about the amount of talent you have, or your ability to cry on command. The point is, how well can you take direction? How well can you put aside your own ideas or ego and listen to the ideas of the director and the people above you, while not giving up the passion and drive of that character?

Shannon Purser

you passion character people

I was definitely always the bigger girl and kind of weird. I didn't make friends very easily and I was a big reader, so I was very antisocial, and I knew that people were judging me.

Shannon Purser

me friends girl people

As I got into high school I sort of came into my own and gained some confidence and, luckily, wasn't really bullied by others.

Shannon Purser

confidence high-school my-own school

My existence in Hollywood is a political statement, because there are so few women who are plus-sized or above a size 6.

Shannon Purser

size existence women political