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Actress Shailene Woodley Shines with Scoliosis

March 23, 2015

Jon Furniss/Invision/AP Images

Shailene Woodley is one of Hollywood’s top stars with her current film, Insurgent ruling the box office this past weekend both domestically and worldwide. She’s also starred in such films The Fault in Our Stars, Divergent and her breakout role alongside actor George Clooney in The Descendants. But what really sets Shailene apart from her peers is her positive management of her scoliosis.

At the age of 15, Shailene was diagnosed with a 38-degree curvature in her back. She was prescribed a plastic brace that stretched from her chest to her hips, to wear every day for two years, in an effort to halt the progression of her scoliosis.

“It was like wearing a tacky, disgusting, plastic corset for 18 hours a day. In the beginning, it was hard to eat or breathe and I had to give up cross-country running. But I needed to have it to realign my spine,” Shailene told Us Weekly in 2012.


braceUS Weekly

Shailene spoke to Marie Claire magazine in 2014, and said of her diagnosis:

 “I was like, ‘Some people have crooked teeth, some people have broken fingers, and I’ve got a back that has my initial on it.’”- Marie Claire

And during her press interview rounds for The Descendants, she spoke with Movies Online, who asked her:

Q: One of the tools in an actor’s kit is the physicality. You have to know what to do with your body. You had an experience in high school where there was some question about whether you’d be able to be physically active?

SW: Yes, I still have scoliosis but it was never a question of whether I could be active or not. Never. Actually I have pretty severe scoliosis but it’s not something that will ever affect [my life]. You can still get pregnant, you can still live your life the way anyone else can live their life. You can bungee jump. You can skydive. It does not hold you back from anything. Every now and then you get a little bit of pain, but everyone has their stuff to deal with. Everyone has their own pains and obstacles to battle with. But it’s never been physically limiting at all.

Q: Did it give you an awareness of your physicality?

SW: No, not at all. It gave me an awareness of being grateful for it. I am so grateful I have scoliosis over something else.

Congratulations to Shailene for being such a positive role model for others with scoliosis!

 

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Peggy says

    March 7, 2023 at 12:35 pm

    I’m proud of the work Shailene has done. I’ve seen all her movies mentioned here and love her performance in all of them. Does she have anything in the near future I can look forward to?

    A great fan
    Peggy

    Reply
  2. Khushi Sharma says

    March 31, 2022 at 10:32 pm

    Did she have a surgery?

    Reply
    • Erin Myers says

      April 14, 2022 at 1:10 pm

      I do not know if she’s had surgery, but I’ve heard nothing, which would tell me that she hasn’t had surgery.
      Erin

      Reply
  3. Jessica says

    January 29, 2020 at 7:46 pm

    Do we know what the current degree of her curvature is?

    Reply
    • Erin Myers says

      January 30, 2020 at 8:27 am

      Hi Jessica,
      Nope, I don’t know the degree of Shailene’s scoli curves, but I bet you could reach out to her via insta and ask her. I’ve been shocked as how many prominent people who have scoli are willing to talk about their scoli journeys to encourage others along their path.
      Blessings,
      Erin

      Reply

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5 of 5 videos of my private lesson w/Jennifer Star 5 of 5 videos of my private lesson w/Jennifer Stark at @spiral_spine . Both arms are moving, but the Lt (the side that doesn’t fire very well) has an extra weight and the Rt (my hypertonic side) has a pinky ball under the upper trap to encourage the muscle to not spasm up during movement. A bridge was added in for stability, and well, you could see that was a bit of a challenge for me. #pilates #scoliosis #spiralspine #bentbutnotbroken #scoliosisawareness #scoliosiswarrior #scoliosisexercise #scoliosisstrong #balancedbody
4 of 5 videos of my private lesson w/Jennifer Star 4 of 5 videos of my private lesson w/Jennifer Stark at @spiral_spine . Do you see how hard I have to concentrate to come out of my scoli and fire the right muscles? *notice that my eyes are closed. 👀 HARD!!! Hmmmm, is it more mental work or physical work? 🧠 💪 #scoliosis #spiralspine #corealign #pilates #balancedbody #bentbutnotbroken #scoliosisawareness #scoliosiswarrior #scoliosisexercise #scoliosisstrong
3 of 5 videos of my private lesson w/Jennifer Star 3 of 5 videos of my private lesson w/Jennifer Stark at @spiral_spine . More complexity is added to challenge my mind and body to not only come out of my curves, but hold my body there. 🔥 💪 🌟 #spiralspine #scoliosis #pilates #corealign #bentbutnotbroken #scoliosisawareness #scoliosiswarrior #scoliosisexercise #scoliosisstrong
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