Gina Rodriguez's Thoughts Looking at Herself Might Sound Familiar If You Have Anxiety

Everyone wants to look good in photos, but “Jane the Virgin” star Gina Rodriguez knows how much living with anxiety can change the way you look at yourself.

In a “Ten Second Portrait” filmed by Anton Soggiu, Rodriguez stands, makeup free in a jacket and Yankees cap, smiling into the camera.

“I suffer from anxiety,” Rodriguez shared on Instagram, “And watching this clip I could see how anxious I was but I empathize with myself.”

My beautiful friend @antonsoggiu came to visit from Norway and he included me in his magical art. TEN SECOND PORTRAITS. It’s always great to be in front of his lens but this time it was just me. Bare and exposed in the streets of la. No makeup. No styling. Just me. I suffer from anxiety. And watching this clip I could see how anxious I was but I empathize with myself. I wanted to protect her and tell her it’s ok to be anxious, there is nothing different or strange about having anxiety and I will prevail. I like watching this video. It makes me uncomfortable but there is a freedom I feel maybe even an acceptance. This is me. Puro Gina.

A post shared by Gina Rodriguez (@hereisgina) on May 26, 2017 at 12:08pm PDT

Seeing how anxious she looked in the video, Rodriguez’s first impulse was to protect herself. “I wanted to protect her and tell her it’s ok to be anxious, there is nothing different or strange about having anxiety and I will prevail,” she wrote. “I like watching this video. It makes me uncomfortable but there is a freedom I feel maybe even an acceptance.”

Fans of the actress thanked her on Instagram for her honesty. ” You are so gorgeous, inside and out,” one fan wrote. “I have suffered from anxiety for my whole life, and I’m so glad we live in an age where we can be open, honest and vulnerable about it! You go girl!”

This isn’t the first time Rodriguez has been open about body image issues. The star has Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, a thyroid condition which caused her weight to fluctuate.

“It began when I was 19 years old and I got fired, and I realized keeping my weight down was going to be much more difficult,” Rodriguez said in an interview with PeopleStyle. “It was difficult for me to stay in the comfortable zone of my weight. I was very tired. My fatigue was through the roof. When everyone else was cold, I was sweating bullets.”

Like her message on Instagram now, her message back then was similar:

For women on this journey, have a conversation with yourself. Recognize the voice that comes in but wants to tear down the beautiful amazing human being that you are. You are the most beautiful you. You are the best version of yourself. And when that demon comes in and says your thighs are thick, you say, ‘You know what demon? Yes they are and I am going to work them. I am going to rock the s–t out of my thick thighs and I am rocking this whole damn city with my thick thighs loving them.