Ashley Greene recalls having ‘terrifying’ panic attacks while promoting ‘Twilight’

Ashley Greene got candid about her mental health struggles which she revealed begun as she was promoting her infamous Twilight movie.

In an interview with Us Weekly, Greene, who played the fan favourite vampire Alice Cullen in the series, shared that she didn’t recognise the signs until she started getting panic attacks.

“I didn’t recognise negative self-talk or intrusive thoughts until much later,” Greene, 36, told the outlet. “But the panic attacks, as soon as I had my first one, I thought I was going to die.”

The Aftermath actress went on to share that the first time she experienced a panic attack was “right when the press tour was happening with Twilight” and she was “terrified.”

She added that it was something that she “just couldn’t ignore” and “could not push down” despite being “really good at suppressing [her] feelings and issues in order to get the job done or continue on.”

While Greene described her difficult time dealing with the panic attacks, she noted that it never occurred when she was “on set or at a photo shoot or during an interview,” but would feel the effects once she was “alone” and in “the slowdown moment.”

The Immaculate Room star explained that for her recovery she had to stop and reflect as “things really started to show themselves and rear their ugly heads” she sought out treatment.

Before that, she had always been working as it made her happy, but also allowed her to ‘not deal’ and ‘not feel’ with things.

While many of her coping mechanisms ended up increasing her anxiety, she revealed a change in her lifestyle and the support of her husband, Paul Khoury, had been “really helpful.”

The actress tied the knot with Khoury in July 2018 and welcomed daughter Kingsley in September 2022.

Greene shared that Khoury has been “really huge part of my mental health journey.”