As a child, actor and writer Mara Wilson gained fame for her roles in family-friendly movies like Miracle on 34th Street, Mrs. Doubtfire, and of course, Matilda. When Wilson starred as the lead in Matilda, she was barely ten years old with several years' worth of acting credits to her name. More recently, during an appearance on the podcast Mayim Bialik's Breakdown (via Buzzfeed), Wilson revealed some of the mental health struggles that she experienced as a young child after she finished filming for Matilda.
"I was always very worried from a very young age," said Wilson. "I worried about death, I worried about sickness, I was that kind of worrier. And it was strange because I was either, like I said, a very sort of upbeat extroverted kid or I was having an anxiety attack." Still, according to the actor, "all the sh** hit the fan" when Wilson began third grade. She said, "My mother was sick, I had just finished filming Matilda. I started having panic attacks about things like my pet hamster escaping."
In addition to anxiety, Wilson revealed that she also struggled with an undiagnosed Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (also known as OCD). She said, "I started washing my hands all the time, so much so that my hands were always red and chapped and raw and my mother would have to put salves and ointments and all these kinds of…home remedies on them to make sure that they wouldn't hurt so much anymore."
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, OCD is "a common, chronic, and long-lasting disorder in which a person has uncontrollable, reoccurring thoughts ('obsessions') and/or behaviors ('compulsions') that he or she feels the urge to repeat over and over."
Mara Wilson Recognized That She Had Mental Health Struggles at a Young Age
Wilson continued, "It was a really hard time for me and I knew that it was weird. That was the thing. I knew that I was strange, I knew that this was something that other people didn't have, and I started having panic attacks at school. I had a feeling that this was not something that other kids had."
Additionally, Wilson opened up about how hard it was for her to get help for her mental health issues. Still, despite struggling to find the right source, Wilson eventually entered therapy when she was 12 years old and found the experience life-changing.
"I think I was on Zoloft at the time," Wilson revealed. "I'm on Lexapro now and it helps because I could not function without it. And I was diagnosed with severe OCD and I couldn't have functioned without it."
"That diagnosis saved me," she added.
An upcoming musical remake, fittingly titled Matilda the Musical, is nearly ready for release arriving in select theaters and on Netflix on Dec. 25.