Clueless star Elisa Donovan reveals she almost had a heart attack while filming the classic movie

Elisa Donovan revealed life on the set of 1995 teen classic Clueless wasn’t as fabulous as it appeared on screen.

The 50-year-old actress has shared that she almost suffered a heart attack while filming the iconic movie due to a severe battle with anorexia.

‘I was suffering greatly from anorexia and I had been in denial about it,’ she said during an appearance on podcast Celebrity Catch Up: Life After That Thing I Did.

‘I had maybe three or four days off in one week and I almost had a heart attack. The doctor started talking to me about eating disorders and I said, “Well you’re crazy,” because I thought I was too fat to be anorexic,’ she said.

Elisa is best known for her portrayal of Amber, the nemesis to Alicia Silverstone’s Cher, in the hit movie directed by Amy Heckerling.

But she admitted the advice she received while making the comedy helped to set her straight.

‘At that moment, I was so afraid I was going to lose my job. My life had started taking off in the way I wanted it to with my career and I was concerned that this was now suddenly going to prevent me from that,’ she explained.

‘Initially, the only reason I started to really get help was because I was worried I’d not be able to continue, but ultimately, that’s not what helps you to recover. It has to come from a more pure place of wanting to be better,’ she added.

Donovan told the hosts that Clueless not only changed the trajectory of her career, it also saved her from her personal demons.

‘It changed my life in a lot of ways, that movie, but it helped me to get healthy,’ she concluded.

The red-haired starlet not only starred in the theatrical feature, she also reprised the character in the spin-off television series, which aired for three seasons from 1996-1999. 

She went onto nab a starring role on the popular teen sitcom Sabrina the Teenage Witch as Morgan, one of Sabrina’s college housemates.

In the years since her recovery, she has spent time sharing her story with young people and their parents in an effort to potentially help them. 

‘Having an eating disorder is rarely greatly understood by the general public and it really is a mental and emotional disease. People just look at the body as if that’s the issue, but it’s actually not much about that at all. So I try to help as much as I can,’ she said.

She is still known for the catchphrase, ‘whatever,’ with people stopping her on the street to this day to say it to her. But she explains the expression had a deeper meaning than fans realized. 

‘I had a boyfriend from the age of 17 to 21, and we would break up, fight all the time, but he used to say “whatever” all the time in this way that just infuriated me. I couldn’t stand it when he said it,’ she recalled.

‘When I read the script and I went “Oh this is her word,” it felt like kismet in some way. I’m going to use this word now to my advantage,’ she added with a laugh.