Daisy Ridley made her breakthrough in the entertainment industry thanks to her role as Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens which immediately propelled her to worldwide recognition.
Considering that Rey was the main character of the sequel trilogy, Ridley essentially became the face of the franchise during that time and carried a lot of its burden.
It doesn't help that a section of the fandom expressed a severe amount of outrage on social media due to the creative decisions that were made in the films.
However, the journey wasn't an easy one for the actress and, unfortunately, she had health issues as a result of the experience.
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Daisy Ridley Developed Holes in Her Stomach While Shooting the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Speaking with Inverse, Daisy Ridley opened up about the challenges and health issues that she faced when she joined the Star Wars franchise.
"Understand the scale. This is not a role in a movie. This is a religion for people. It changes things on a level that is inconceivable," she recalled J.J. Abrams' advice when she was offered the part of Rey.
"When all of the craziness was going on. I was like, ‘I’m good. I’m good. I’m coping fine. Everything’s fine.’ And I was fine, for the most part. But I think what I was really grappling with was that it was my normal, but it was not normal to other people."
The actress also found the experience isolating for her as the pressure of being the face of the franchise took a toll.
"For friends and family, or any people who see something in a slightly different way than you do, there’s this projection of you, and you in that world, and how it feels to do this and that," she shared.
"And you’re like, ‘Well, actually, I’m just a human being, separate from that.’ It’s quite this wrestle, of the reality and the fantasy that’s often projected onto you."
The anxiety that Ridley felt during the filming of the sequel trilogy was so severe that she developed holes in her stomach wall by the time The Last Jedi was released.
As a result, she took a six-month break sabbatical before production for The Rise of Skywalker began.
There is no doubt that it was an unfortunate experience for the actress since it's not an easy feat to overcome. Since then, she has practiced self-care and it became important for her as her career went on.
Hopefully, she won't be able to relieve it when she stars in the upcoming New Jedi Order movie and the experience will be more pleasant for her this time around.
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