Actor Tuppence Middleton has shed light on the struggles of living with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Speaking with the The Guardian, Middleton, best known for playing Lucy Smith in the period drama "Downton Abbey," said the condition is often "made fun of" and commonly associated with tidying and cleaning when, in fact, it's different for each person.
"When it causes people that amount of stress, it's really unfair," she said of the way film and television lightheartedly portray OCD. "I think that's because it still feels like unknown territory, whereas most people have an idea of what they think depression or anxiety is."
Middleton, 36, is writing about the topic in a new book.
"Obviously, I only have my experience of it, and that's definitely not going to be everyone's experience, but I would have been really interested to hear one experience of it when I was growing up," she said.
OCD is characterized by obsessive thoughts and repetitive behaviors. For Middleton, this manifests in performing routines such as tapping objects like light switches and oven knobs, engaging in mental counting, and experiencing emetophobia, which is a fear of vomiting.
"You make bargains with yourself — if I don't do this, something bad is going to happen to someone I love — which I think is quite a common thing," she said.
Working on a BBC Radio 4 series focused on the subject last year, Middleton found comfort in discovering that her experiences were shared by others.
Earlier this year, Middleton spoke openly about how her condition affected her work with the BBC. At the time, she was working on "The Motive and the Cue," a play by Jack Thorne. In the production, she stars alongside Johnny Flynn, who plays her husband.
"Johnny and I have to kiss in this [play] and one of my obsessions is being emetophobic, that's fear of vomiting," she said, according to the The Guardian. "And so I get preoccupied with, Oh, what if Johnny has norovirus?"
Middleton further acknowledged that the early stage of rehearsals posed difficulties.
"The first day when you meet everyone and everyone shakes hands," she said. "I'm making a mental note of whose hand I've shaken — and then I have to remember while I'm talking to people that I need to go and wash my hands."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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