JJ Abrams’ ominous Star Wars warning haunted Daisy Ridley for years

Daisy Ridley has revealed that JJ Abrams warned her upon being cast in Star Wars, and his words haunted her for years.

The Star Wars franchise has seen several iterations over its three decades as three different trilogies have been conceived since the first film premiered in 1977.

A lot of actors have seen immense fame throughout these trilogies including Harrison Ford, Natalie Portman, and Daisy Ridley.

However, it seems like Star Wars fame has a bit of a darker side to it as Ridley revealed that JJ Abrams, the director of the latest Star Wars trilogy, issued an ominous warning once she was cast. Daisy Ridely recently revealed what he warned her about, and how his words have stuck with her.

Ridley recalls Abrams’ Star Wars casting warning

The actress recently caught up with Inverse as part of her media campaign for her Sundance film Sometimes I Think About Dying.

During the conversation, Ridley recalled being cast in The Force Awakens, the first entry of the latest trilogy, and how Abrams warned her that being in these films is a bigger deal than she may have anticipated.

“Understand the scale,” Abrams said after offering Ridley the role as Rey, the scrappy orphan turned Jedi, “This is not a role in a movie. This is a religion for people. It changes things on a level that is inconceivable.”

Ridley went on to explain that, at first, she was trying to cope with her new normal as being a Star Wars star, but the experience was incredibly “isolating” because “there’s this projection of you, and you in that world, and how it feels to do this and that. And you’re like, ‘Well, actually, I’m just a human being, separate from that.’ It’s quite this wrestle, of the reality and the fantasy that’s often projected onto you.”

The stress of being in the lime light and have millions of Star Wars fans projecting their every thought onto really took a toll on Ridley as, when The Last Jedi premiered in 2017, she had developed holes in the walls of her stomach due to her severe anxiety.

Ridley is far from the first actor to have to deal with the toxicity that comes with being in the Star Wars franchise as her co-star Kelly Marie Tran was driven off social media due to the abuse she suffered at the hands of racist fans.

Though the Star Wars franchise tries to be a place full of positivity and acceptance, some fans have caused the movies’ casts to suffer in incredibly sad and frustrating ways.