Marisa Abela opens up about impact of cancer treatment on lifestyle

Marisa Abela still struggles with insecurity about her appearance.

During her appearance on the How To Fail with Elizabeth Day podcast on January 14, Abela opened up about her troubles with weight management following her thyroid cancer treatment.

The Industry star, 29, was diagnosed with cancer in 2020 at the age of 23. She underwent surgery to remove the cancer, but that left her thyroid gland non-functional. This led to hypothyroidism, which slows down the body’s metabolism and causes weight gain.

"I'm hard on myself, especially as an actor I have to see myself all the time. My number one thing now is that when I think about food it's healthy choices, not just skinny choices, but it hasn't quite done enough. Of course I'm still slightly vain and I want to look good," she said.

"It's a difficult one because the thyroid is one of the hormones you need for your metabolism to be working, so it's been a lot more difficult for me since the illness to stay fit," she explained.

The Back to Black star added, "At the beginning I thought I was going to have peace with my body, but what's difficult is now I have to work harder to maintain a healthy physique."

"You want to be a perfect person afterwards and it's so stupid, as if," the BAFTA winner added.