In What Works For Me – a series of articles considering how we can find balance in our lives – we talk to celebrities about wellbeing and self-care.
“This year I started working with the moon – the new moon and the full moon,” says actor, podcaster and activist Evanna Lynch. “The new moon is about setting new intentions and putting out your wishes to the universe. The full moon is about surrendering and letting go of things that didn’t work out.”
It sounds like something her most famous character, Luna Lovegood, would say, but the Harry Potter alumna only got into astrology two years ago – among a growing number of millennials exploring the zodiac as a form of self-care.
Once a month, she marks the “new moon” by sitting down with relaxing music and a candle, then writing down five things she wants to achieve that month. She’ll meditate for about an hour – and on the full moon, she’ll perform the same ritual, this time focusing on gratitude and forgiveness – letting go any frustrations she may have with herself, or others.
“Being an actor or a writer or whatever I’m doing, I don’t have a set routine and in the past that has really stressed me out because it’s made me feel out of control,” she tells HuffPost UK. “Working with the moon, it helps me feel like I’m sort of in collaboration with the universe and more in step with it. Having set those intentions, I just feel more relaxed. I feel like I have some sort of structure to my life and the rest is kind of up to the universe.”
Since the final instalment of the Harry Potter film series was released in 2011, Lynch has busied herself with film and theatre roles, vegan activism, hosting a podcast and trying her hand as a writer. Last year, she made it to the final of Dancing With The Stars – the US version of Strictly Come Dancing.
But a clean break from the Wizarding World hasn’t been possible.
Like her child actor co-stars Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint, Lynch grew up as part of JK Rowling’s juggernaut. For some, she’ll always be Luna – you only have to look at the number of fan pages she has on Twitter. “I have to say, the whole mask thing has been really helpful for me. You put on a mask and some sunglasses and really nobody can tell who you are!” she says.
But there is pressure that comes with being the face of one of the franchise’s most-loved characters. “You kind of always have to know what to say and be informed,” says Lynch. “With all the political stuff going on lately and the Black Lives Matter movement, for example, people are always looking for you to know exactly what to say, for you to say something right. Or, they’re looking for you to say something wrong. Either way, they’re looking at you.”
This pressure came to a head in June when Lynch addressed controversial tweets posted by JK Rowling about biological sex and transgender people.
Rowling’s initial tweet questioned a headline that referred to “people who menstruate”, saying: “I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” The author later posted an essay stating she was a domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor, and was talking about trans issues for a number of reasons, including her “concerns around single-sex spaces”.
In a response to Rowling’s comments, Lynch echoed the sentiment of co-star Daniel Radcliffe, tweeting: “Trans women are women.” She also added that while she didn’t agree with the author’s comments, she’s a “friend and admirer of Jo” and that fans shouldn’t “bully or hate people on the other side of the debate”.
This last comment – suggesting there was a debate to be had – sparked its own controversy. Lynch vowed to evolve to be a “more intersectional activist” before disabling her Twitter account as the criticism continued to pour in.
“At the moment, I think the whole conversation has gotten so fractious and people on both sides are digging their heels in further and not listening to each other. So I’m trying to step back further and just educate myself,” Lynch tells HuffPost, reflecting on the issue. “It’s really, really complicated.”
Trans activists have offered JK Rowling an open discussion on the topic and Lynch says she’d like to see the author take up this opportunity.
“I don’t really understand where her fixation and her fear is coming from around this,” she says. “But I’m very biased, I absolutely love JK Rowling, I see her as a human being and so when I see her talking about her past and her experiences of domestic violence, I really feel for her. But I really want to understand why she is saying these things that are hurtful to many trans people.”
Twitter isn’t the place to have these discussions, suggests Lynch, as the nuance is lost. “I see that there are cis women and there are trans people who have suffered a lot of abuse for their sex. I don’t agree with the intolerance on either side for trying to shut down the discussion – I think trans activists and JK Rowling should have the freedom to speak about their experience.”
Lynch says she learned from the backlash, acknowledging “this is not my area of expertise”. She says she wants to encourage fans to listen to trans people with lived experience, and refocus her attention on her own activism.
After years of vegetarianism, Lynch became vegan in 2014 and now encourages others to embrace the lifestyle. “It’s so abominable what people do to animals and what the agricultural industry does to animals,” she says. “But it’s not really about love for animals, it’s about respect for another sentient species.”
She transitioned to veganism gradually, she says, adding: “I had a lot of issues with food in the past, so I really wanted to do that gently.” The actor has long been open about her struggle with anorexia, which began in childhood and saw her hospitalised at the age of 11. She says becoming vegan has helped her mental health.
“I think veganism has actually helped me to recover,” she says. “It took the focus I had around food – about calories and statistics and aesthetics – and it switched it to be about a meaningful cause. It really changed the way I think about food.”
Does she consider herself recovered, or is recovery a life-long process? “That’s a question I’m always wondering about myself,” she says. ”I do think you can recover, I actually think that too many people with eating disorders hang onto it. They hang onto it as an identity, ‘I’m an eating disorder warrior,’ or whatever. If that’s helpful for you, that’s fine. But I just think there’s a point where you have to feel like that’s the past, let it go and move on and not define yourself by that.”
For anyone currently struggling with self-loathing or food issues, Lynch stresses that it’s vital to surround yourself with positive people. “I used to get addicted to people who made me feel bad because I thought they were improving me,” she says.
“Especially in relationships with boyfriends, I would go for people who would play up my insecurities. Or I would go to acting teachers who would tell me I was shit, just thinking: ‘They obviously know more than I do and they’re going to fix me.’”
That cycle of negativity “feeds eating disorders,” she says, but surrounding herself with positivity has interrupted the pattern. “With eating disorders, it’s about feeding the voice of positivity and creativity, rather than self-destruction,” she says. “You have to consciously curate an environment around you that’s going to feed the positive side.”
Now, Lynch says her mental health is in a better place. When she’s not kneeling beneath the moon, she is visualising what she calls “a tough queen energy”.
“She’s a queen who is doing good and is there for benevolent reasons. She’s kind, but she’s really, really fierce,” Lynch explains. “I’ve just noticed people slipping into my life and asking too many favours and asking too much of my time. So I’m having her in my mind, putting them back into place, kindly but very firmly.”
Evanna Lynch is supporting World Plant Milk Day and encouraging fans to take the 7-day dairy free details. You can sign up at worldplantmilkday.com.
Useful websites and helplines:
- Beat, Adult Helpline: 0808 801 0677 and Youthline: 0808 801 0711 or email help@beateatingdisorders.org.uk (adults) fyp@beateatingdisorders.org.uk (youth support)
Samaritans, open 24 hours a day, on 116 123
Mind, open Monday to Friday, 9am-6pm on 0300 123 3393