'Harry Potter' 's Evanna Lynch Says Her 'Healing Process' Is Ongoing After Eating Disorder Recovery

Evanna Lynch’s debut memoir, The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting: The Tragedy and The Glory of Growing Up, is out now

Harry Potter alum Evanna Lynch is hoping to show fans the real her in her first book.

The 30-year-old actress — known for her role as Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter films — recently spoke to E! News about releasing her memoir, The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting: The Tragedy and The Glory of Growing Up, which she said was an opportunity to re-introduce herself.

Lynch told the outlet that the memoir details her long battle with anorexia growing up and her recovery both mentally and physically.

"I don't have an eating disorder at all anymore," she explained. "It's been years of eating like a normal, healthy person and having balanced habits. And it's different — somebody asked me recently, 'Oh, is it similar to alcoholism, where you're always going to have to avoid it?' And it's like, well, no, because you have to eat, you have to do it."

Lynch added, "And you have to learn how to do it in a functional way. So, I do believe you can properly recover and move on. But I think the healing process continues."

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The actress has been open about her eating disorder in the past, which began when she was 11 years old and, at times, led to her hospitalization. Lynch told E! that by sharing her story, she can open the door to conversations about mental health and being honest with trauma.

"I really wanted to write this book for years," Lynch said. "Just because I've been talking about these topics, these themes of parts of my life for a long time, but not really getting my message across, not really getting the complexity and nuance of the story across."

She continued, "For so long, I was like, 'I don't know if I'll ever have done enough feeling to be able to write the end of my story,' and I hope I kind of conveyed that in the book — that the healing journey, the recovery journey, is nonlinear."

Evanna Lynch as Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter series. Everett Collection

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While competing on Dancing with the Stars, the actress said the beloved novels were a positive outlet for her and she later became pen pals with Harry Potter author and creator J.K. Rowling before joining the cast of the franchise.

Reflecting on the dark period of her life, Lynch said at the time that Rowling's "books and her kindness really made me want to live again."

Lynch's debut memoir, The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting: The Tragedy and The Glory of Growing Up, is out Oct. 19.