Abigail Breslins Struggles: From Star to Survivor

Little Miss Sunshine made a household name out of then ten-year old .

The actress was catapulted into the limelight as Olive Hoover in the 2006 film which follows the story of her family travelling across the country when she wants to participate in a beauty pageant.

She has since established herself as a popular actress through roles in the Zombieland film series, August: Osage County, and satirical horror series Scream Queens. 

But behind the scenes the star has had a tough life, suffering from an eating disorder and PTSD after being sexually assaulted, as well as enduring a family tragedy during COVID. 

While Abigail has never blamed any of her struggles on starring in the movie, her character is seen desperately trying to conform to beauty standards to win the pageant.

One scene shows her dad informing her that eating ice cream may lead to her becoming 'fat' while in another part of the film she is seen in front of a mirror sucking in her stomach.

The star has previously said the film did make her feel self-conscious in real life. 

She revealed on the Vulnerable with Christy Carlson Romano podcast in 2024: 'I was wearing something to add something to my stomach,' - she explained, referring to the padding she wore to give her character a larger frame. 

'I definitely had a moment of deep insecurity when I saw all the other girls in the beauty pageant and was like, 'Am I the ugly one?''

Abigail was later diagnosed with anorexia and bulimia at the age of 15.

In addition, in October 2020, on World Mental Health Day, the former child actress explained she had been diagnosed with anxiety at the age of 13. 

She said at the time: 'For a while I felt ashamed of these labels and the stigma attached to them. Now I see it as a part of who I am... Every day I don't have a panic attack is a win.' 

In 2024 she touched on her eating disorder as she . Alabama was 18 at the time. 

She penned on Instagram as she shared an article about it: 'This makes me super sad. I have been several years free of my own ED, and I have zero judgement towards people who take medications like this but the fact that she started taking weight loss meds because of online comments is absolutely devastating. 

'Please everyone, let's just be kinder. You have no idea how traumatizing these kind of comments can be. She's a beautiful girl like… this is awful. And it makes me really sad. Sending love her way.'

Alabama stated she was 'tired of being fat' at the time and unhappy with how she photographed.

In addition, in 2016 Abigail slammed a gym - accusing it of 'body shaming' - after it released an ad in which it criticized women with pear-shaped figures.

The ad, by global franchise Gold's Gym, featured an image of a pear accompanied by the words: 'This is no shape for a girl'. 

The then 20-year-old hit out at the gym on Instagram in a damning critique of the company, accusing it of being morally irresponsible, writing: 'Things like this are the reason nine-year-old-girls develop eating disorders.'

Alongside a picture of the offensive ad, the Scream Queens star wrote: 'Wow honestly disgusted by this @goldsgym you should be ashamed of yourselves.

'Things like this are the reason 9 year old girls develop eating disorders. 

'Working out should be something you do for yourself, your health and your mind and body, not cuz a corporation declares your body shape isn't what girls should look like. [sic]'

She added: 'Also I wonder if it's cool with Golds Gyms for men to be pear shaped? 

'Interesting they had to single out females. Good job for preying on people's insecurities and perpetuating body image issues!'

In a final take-down of the gym, she said she has never used the gym - which started in Venice, California, and now has branches around the world - and will boycott them in the future.  

'Good thing I've never signed up for your gym, now I certainly never will,' she wrote.

Abigail has also previously opened up about being diagnosed with PTSD after being sexually assaulted and abused. 

She didn't reveal who it was other than saying it was a former boyfriend. 

At the time she opened up about why she left her own sexual assault unreported, writing on Instagram: 'I didn't report it because of many reasons. 

'First off, I was in complete shock and total denial. I didn't want to view myself as a 'victim' so I suppressed it and pretended it never happened. Second of all, I was in a relationship with my rapist and feared not being believed. 

'I also feared that if my case didn't lead anywhere, he would still find out and hurt me even more. Thirdly, I knew how hurt my family and friends would be after finding out and I didn't want to put them through that.'

'I was diagnosed with PTSD a year and a half ago,' she continued. 'I have made a lot of progress since the event occurred, but I won't pretend it isn't something I struggle with. I still have flashbacks, I still get nightmares, I still jump when somebody touches me unexpectedly, even if it's my best friend tapping me on the shoulder.'

'To say that reported rapes are the only rapes that count contributes to the ideology that survivors of unreported rape don't matter. 

'It's unfair, untrue, and unhelpful. It's like if you got a black eye from getting punched in the face, but because you didn't call the police, you didn't really get a black eye. Unreported rapes count. Reported rapes count. End of story.'

Abigail has also experienced her fair share of family tragedy and in February 2021, the actress announced that her father Michael had died from COVID-19 at the age of 78.

Sharing the news on Instagram she wrote: 'Oh wow. Hard to write this. Harder than I thought. I'm in shock and devastation.

'At 6:32 PM EST, my sweet, perfect, amazing, heroic, wonderful dada passed away after my family and I said goodbye.