PREVIEW

Calista Flockhart shares negative impact Ally McBeal fame had on her mental health. The actress shot to fame in 1997 when she portrayed the titular character in the zany legal comedy-drama which ran until 2002 and pulled in huge ratings. But her overnight success came at a cost as she soon found herself being followed relentlessly by the paparazzi. Opening up to The Hollywood Reporter's Awards Chatter podcast, the iconic actress recalled: ”I realised that this was really cool, that people were watching it and talking about it, and then people started debating about it. I mean, it was amazing. That's the goal, right?”. ”At the risk of sounding like I'm whining, the paparazzi truly did follow me everywhere I went. Truthfully, I don't think I've ever really adjusted to the paparazzi.” Calista went on to explain that she became reclusive as a result, saying: ”I decided the only thing that I could do was stay inside, so I stopped leaving my apartment. I stopped leaving my house. I stopped going out, and I was isolated. I think that, I don't want to go so far as saying that I was depressed, but it was hard. It was challenging.” The star revealed there was one silver lining to the constant photography. ”The only thing that I had (to leave the house) to do, was I had to walk my dog. So there were a lot of pictures of me walking my dog, Webster. Which now, I'm actually grateful for.” THIS VIDEO MUST NOT BE EDITED FOR LENGTH TO COMBINE WITH OTHER CONTENT