Hilary Swank Reveals She Developed Claustrophobia from Her 'Away' Spacesuit

Hilary Swank is opening up about the difficult time she had while playing Emma Green on the Netflix series Away.

The two-time Oscar-winning actress revealed in a new Instagram post that she has never had a phobia in her life, but she developed claustrophobia on set because the spacesuit she had to wear.

“I have never, not once in my life, had a phobia. Until now. And I’m gonna be honest, I never understood them, I always thought ‘get over it, it’s just a spider, etc. walk away.’ Until l, of course myself, became severely claustrophobic,” Hilary wrote in her post. “To the point my entire body broke out in sweat and I was drenched within 30 seconds and my face looked like a very ripe tomato…and I almost passed out while trying on my finished spacesuit and helmet for the first time. It is not just mental, it is very physical.”

“BUT, our mental minds do control a lot, if not everything. After six months, I was not able to overcome my claustrophobia, but I was able to come to a type of meeting of the minds with it. When we calm our minds and sit with the fear, NOT try and push it away, we can sit with it in a different way, that makes it ‘doable,’” she continued.

“Playing an astronaut in AWAY made me push into the sharp edges in a way I never thought it would. This was such an important lesson for me…in so many ways,” Hilary concluded. “I hope that in sharing this you might feel less alone in whatever it is that takes over your mind and therefore body. Be patient with yourself.”

The showrunner of Away recently cleared up some confusion fans had about the final moments of the season, plus some details have been revealed for potential season two plans.