Alyson Stoner Recalls Going to ‘Medical Weight Loss Camp’ for ‘Hunger Games’ Audition

Alyson Stoner recalled the intense weight-loss regimen they tried to prepare for their Hunger Games audition while simultaneously navigating disordered eating.

“Katniss was the ultimate role and the ultimate strong female lead: purpose-driven, sharp, athletic, and, thankfully, a heroine whose capacities were more important than physical beauty,” Stoner, who uses they/them pronouns, recalled in an excerpt from their upcoming memoir, Semi-Well-Adjusted Despite Literally Everything, published by Vanity Fair on Tuesday, August 5.

The actor confessed, “But the role was playing with fire for me,” due to their struggles with an eating disorder, which they battled as a teenager.

“Katniss was characteristically thin — not starving, but small enough to reflect growing up in an underfed district — and muscular from hunting and archery,” Stoner, 31, wrote. “If I was going to devote myself to checking every box of the character description, I had to commit to strenuous training without fully succumbing to my eating disorder.”

The former Disney star called The Hunger Games role a “long shot,” but was hopeful that it wasn’t “too unrealistic for a director to pluck an unexpected person from the crowd and make them a star, either.”

To better their chances at getting the part, Stoner claimed they were approved to attend “a world-renowned medical weight loss camp” at age 17. Even though they admittedly were already drastically underweight, Stoner enrolled in the two-week course that consisted of “seven hours of daily exercise on a calorie deficit.”

Reflecting on the experience, Stoner wrote, “I didn’t recognize the irrational exceptions that doctors (and society) made for Hollywood, because it was all I knew.”

The former child star revealed that when they were 10 years old, a doctor “discovered a heart murmur” during a physical they needed before being able to fly and film Cheaper by the Dozen.

“Upon sharing that I had dizzy spells and blackouts, he didn’t mark anything on my file because it ‘might stop the production company from letting you work,’” Stoner claimed in their book. “I followed the doctor’s orders and ignored the murmur like he did, deducing that Hollywood must exist above medicine, above the law, and even above common sense.”

Stoner explained that the same oversight seemingly allowed them to participate in the weight-loss camp despite being underweight.

“Doctors and trainers should’ve never permitted an underweight minor to do seven hours of 14-mile hikes, heavy lifting, and high-intensity cardio,” Stoner wrote of the Hunger Games audition prep they ultimately endured. “But all I had to say was that I was training for an acting role. They assessed me as mentally stable and opened the door. Then, on off days, I took myself (and all my mental stability) bouldering in a nearby forest to build tactical prowess like Katniss.”

While Stoner waited to see if they got the gig — the role of Katniss ultimately went to Jennifer Lawrence — they remained committed to the unhealthy lifestyle obtained during the camp.

“After a week [of waiting to find out], I teetered past the edge of deprivation into a full-body emergency alarm for food,” Stoner wrote, noting they entered “starvation mode” as the casting process went on.

Stoner eventually “willed” themselves to “slowly approach the pantry” and finally eat a “modest amount of peanut butter on saltine crackers” totaling “350 calories.”

“I was famished,” the actor recalled. “An hour later, I rationed out a packet of sugar-free instant oatmeal and added protein powder. This should be enough. My stomach growled for more.”

After depriving themselves of nutrients during the audition process, Stoner revealed they had a full binge of food that included eating a “pint of ice cream from the back of the freezer” and “wolfing down chips, popcorn, chocolate bars, and whatever was within reach until my jaw was too sore to chew. With pants unbuttoned, I completed the biggest binge of my life and faded into delirium on the couch.”

Despite “still craving sugar” 12 hours after their binge, Stoner remembered thinking they had to “face the self-inflicted damage of the night before.”

“When I stepped onto the scale, I rubbed my eyes in disbelief. What the hell? I gained back every single pound I lost over two months? In a few hours?! It was my worst nightmare,” Stoner wrote. “My body had held on to every morsel of food and liquid ounce, unsure when it would be fed again. All my progress was erased.”

It wasn’t long after they weighed themselves that Stoner said they learned that they didn’t get the part in The Hunger Games franchise. “I sat on my bed with vacant eyes and a distant mind. I didn’t know what to do with myself,” Stoner recalled.

Stoner goes into more detail about their eating disorder struggles, rise in Hollywood and more in Semi-Well-Adjusted Despite Literally Everything, which hits bookstores on Tuesday, August 12.

If you or someone you know struggles with an eating disorder, visit the National Alliance for Eating Disorders website or call their hotline at +1 (866) 662-1235. Text “ALLIANCE” to 741741 for free, 24/7 support.