Personal demons no longer haunt Mariel Hemingway. The Oscar-nominated actress and granddaughter of the late Nobel Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway feels at peace after addressing her dark past. Her family has been plagued by mental illness, addiction and alcoholism.
Seven of her family members committed suicide, including her grandfather, in 1961 and her sister Margaux Hemingway, the former supermodel, in 1996. Hemingway, who has battled an eating disorder, has written two books, “Invisible Girl” and “Out Came the Sun” to help emphasize many people’s personal struggles.
The 61-year-old, who is starring in Pure Flix’s new film, “God’s Country Song,” admitted to Fox News Digital, “I did suffer tremendously. I had depression probably most of my life. My belief in God has been a cornerstone for me. It has helped me understand the things that I came from. I come from an amazing family, but there was also a lot of addiction, alcoholism, depression and suicides. And very serious mental illnesses that I was deeply afraid of.”
She continued, “My belief in God and my belief in prayer and connecting with the God within and your inner voice – that has always been… a saving grace for me and a good path for me. It reminds me that all of this is so interconnected. I believe in lifestyle. I believe in connecting to the Earth. I think nature is God’s expression of how beautiful where we live is. We need to protect that. And we also need to connect to that because we’re so much a part of it.”
Growing up, Hemingway witnessed her parents’ tumultuous marriage. The sweet romance they once shared had soured, with alcohol being a primary culprit. Her sisters rebelled and experimented with drugs to cope. Hemingway previously told People Magazine that her eldest sister Muffet is bipolar and schizophrenic. She also believed Margaux “had bipolar disorder but was never properly diagnosed.”
She recalled, “When I was a kid, I made a decision that I’m going to be the one in the family that fixes everybody. I’m going to figure it out. I’ll do it. I became a caretaker even at a young age. My mother had cancer, and then my father had a heart attack. And when I left my home to go and make movies, that’s when I was on a self-discovery.”
As she rose to fame, Hemingway faced her struggles. People Magazine said she suffered from an eating disorder for “a long time. From about age 16 to 40.” She noted that her father and grandfather were “obsessed” with weight and food. Today, Hemingway is excited to make films, especially ones that share uplifting stories.
In “God’s Country Song,” she plays the mother of singer Noah Bryan (Justin Gaston), who learns he’s the father of a 4-year-old he barely remembers. With the help of faith, family and song, Bryan finds his way and later realizes what truly matters in life. Aspects of the storyline hit close to home.
She said, “‘God’s Country Song’ is such a wholesome story, but it deals with addiction. You know, using alcohol to self-medicate the pain we go through in life or things we can’t deal with. I think the reason why it felt so touching to me is that I do a lot of work for mental health and any time you can get the message out there, especially through scripted work, it just seems to land really well. There are so many superhero films out there that are wonderful, but I think a more family-oriented story connects with me. And I think it connects with so many others, too.”