At 18 she ran out of money and went home in defeat. What happened when she gave Hollywood one more shot surprised even her.
At 18, Lili Reinhart bought a one-way ticket to Los Angeles. She had no famous family and no connections, just a dream she’d had since she was a kid.
Five months later, she was broke and badly depressed. She packed up and went home to her family in North Carolina.
She went back to her old job at Pier 1 Imports, breaking down boxes in the back room. Most people would have quit for good.
The Girl Who Wouldn’t Let It Go
The dream started early. Lili grew up near Cleveland, Ohio, and started singing, acting and dancing at about 10.
Her family went all in. Her mom drove her from Ohio to New York City for auditions. Her dad used his hotel points so they had somewhere to stay.
At 14, she and her mom made an eight-hour drive in the family minivan for an open audition in New York.
There was a darker side, too. Lili has dealt with depression and social anxiety since she was about 13. She has said she hated being a teenager and hated school.
When the family moved to North Carolina, she switched to online school so she could focus on acting. She sent in taped audition after taped audition.
At 18, she felt ready to go all in.
Five Months in LA
Los Angeles wasn’t the dream she’d pictured.
She spent most days alone in her room, waiting for her phone to ring with an audition. It rarely did.
The rejections piled up, and so did the depression. She later said her mental health got so bad that her body started breaking down too.
“I had dwindled through my bank account,” she told W magazine.
So she went home. She later admitted she felt completely defeated.
Her grandmother had wanted her to go to college. Lili never went. Acting was her only plan, and she had no backup.
Six Months at Pier 1
Back in North Carolina, Lili went back to therapy and focused on getting healthy.
She tried working as a hostess at a restaurant. A few hours in, she had a panic attack and quit.
What she could handle was Pier 1. In the back room she could break down boxes, away from customers.
For six months, she saved every dollar she could. It wasn’t much.
She still believed she’d go back. She just didn’t know if it would work.
One More Try
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With her small savings, Lili flew back to Los Angeles and slept on a friend’s air mattress.
She had already been turned down once for a new CW show based on the Archie comics. She had spent three hours making that audition tape, while switching between medications, and said she felt like a monster on it.
This time, she was in LA and could audition in person. She went in with a fresh take and, as she put it, a new fire.
About a month after she moved back, she booked the role of Betty Cooper on Riverdale.
The girl from the back room of Pier 1 was about to become one of the most famous faces on TV.
Fame, and the Fight Nobody Saw
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Riverdale premiered on January 26, 2017. It became a huge hit with teens and young adults around the world.
It ran for seven seasons and 137 episodes, ending on August 23, 2023. Lili played Betty in every one of them.
Meanwhile, she did something few young stars dared to do. She talked openly about her depression, her anxiety and her body dysmorphia.
Fans had never seen a TV star be so honest. She later said she never expected to become known as the girl who talks about depression all the time.
She also branched out. She co-starred with Jennifer Lopez in Hustlers in 2019. On September 29, 2020, she published her first poetry book, Swimming Lessons. It became an instant New York Times bestseller.
Then her health got much harder.
The Hardest Year
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In January 2024, Lili posted a TikTok of herself under a red-light therapy machine.
The caption read: “Was just diagnosed with alopecia in the midst of a major depressive episode.”
Alopecia is an autoimmune condition that makes hair fall out. She shared the news anyway.
More diagnoses came. In 2024 she learned she had interstitial cystitis, a painful bladder condition. She was also still searching for answers about another autoimmune or inflammatory problem.
She called 2024 “the hardest year of my life.”
In December 2025, she shared that surgery had found endometriosis. Each time, she chose to tell fans the truth rather than hide it.
The Comeback She Built Herself
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Lili turned her struggles into something real.
Acne had made her feel isolated and ashamed since she was a teen. So in October 2024 she launched Personal Day, a skincare brand for acne-prone skin. She built it with a dermatologist and a therapist, because she wanted it to address mental health too.
Then 2026 became her biggest year since Riverdale.
In March, she premiered the horror-comedy Forbidden Fruits at the SXSW festival in Austin. On September 23, Amazon’s Prime Video released The Love Hypothesis, based on the hugely popular novel by Ali Hazelwood.
Lili starred in it and was also an executive producer. Some critics called it her movie, and she was the reason to watch.
She also had a third film due in 2026, The Very Best People.
The young woman who once had almost nothing left in the bank is now an actress, author, producer and company founder. And she still talks openly about the hard days.
What Pier 1 Taught Her
Lili Reinhart didn’t make it because things were easy. She went home broke and depressed, then got on a plane and tried again.
Sometimes going home isn’t giving up. Sometimes it’s how you get strong enough for the second try.
