Brittany Snow marked 17 years of recovery from an eating disorder on September 17, calling the milestone her “golden anniversary.” The number of years now matches the date she associates with beginning recovery.
“My movie, Parachute, is about this very day, the day I made the decision to stop hurting myself,” the 40-year-old actress and filmmaker wrote on Instagram. “The day I chose to bet on myself, even when I couldn’t yet imagine what a life on the other side might look like.”
Snow thanked the friends and family members who supported her during that period. “My friends saw me, heard me, helped me. My family loved me through it,” she wrote, remembering a small voice inside her urging her to keep going.
She shared the message alongside a strip of four black-and-white photos of herself. In the caption, Snow addressed people still struggling with an eating disorder and included accounts they could turn to for support.
Snow Shared Recovery Resources With Her Followers
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Snow opened the post with a trigger warning. She told followers experiencing similar struggles that their current circumstances do not have to determine the rest of their lives, even if they cannot yet picture themselves getting better.
Among the accounts she tagged were the National Alliance for Eating Disorders, The Mental Health Coalition and Bring Change to Mind. She included September Letters and Make Sure Your Friends Are Okay, too.
The Alliance runs free weekly support groups led by therapists, with virtual and in-person options. Its treatment database and helpline help people with eating disorders, as well as their loved ones, find care. Referrals can range from a specialist therapist or dietitian to a higher level of medical support.
Her Film Was Originally Called ‘September 17th’
When Snow’s feature directing debut was announced in February 2022, it carried the title September 17th, according to Screen Daily. She co-wrote the screenplay with Becca Gleason from her own original story. By its SXSW premiere in 2023, the film had become Parachute.
Courtney Eaton plays Riley, a young woman navigating an eating disorder after leaving treatment. She meets Ethan, played by Thomas Mann, and the two grow close while Riley is still struggling with how she sees herself. Ethan wants her to see what he sees in her; their attachment brings problems of its own.
During the movie’s release, Snow told People that she wanted to explore “trying to love someone hard enough to get them to love themselves.” She drew on her own experience, but the actors brought theirs to the work as well. Snow said she wanted the film to belong to the people making it with her.
Eaton won SXSW’s Special Jury Award for Performance, while Snow received the festival’s Thunderbird Rising Special Award. Parachute opened in select theaters on April 5, 2024.
Snow Learned to Trust Herself Outside Treatment
Snow has previously discussed receiving treatment for anorexia, exercise bulimia, depression and self-harm after struggling with body image from a young age while building an acting career.
In a November 2025 interview with SELF, she said she stepped away from acting at 23 and spent a year in an outpatient program. She had to learn to trust herself outside treatment, including at restaurants and while eating with friends.
Years later, after her divorce, she began gently encouraging herself to eat as she would a child she loved. “I was talking to myself like someone I loved. And then I just never stopped doing that,” she told the magazine.