After 12 days with no food, it became clear to Mia Farrow that her goal of a 21-day hunger strike would never be met.
"I couldn't do it," the actress told PEOPLE. "I just got weaker and weaker. I lost about 13 lbs."
The actress called an end to her hunger strike Friday after doctors advised her she was risking her health if she continued. Farrow began the hunger strike on April 27 and hoped to survive without food for 21 days as part of an effort to raise awareness about the plight of starving refugees in the Sudan.
Mia Farrow completed a 12 day hunger strike to raise awareness for the plight of starving refugees in the Sudan. She had set out to fast for three weeks, but gave up nine days shy under the advice of her doctors.
Salvatore Di Nolfi, Keystone / AP
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Though she was determined to continue, she was instructed by her doctor to immediately stop due to severe health risks. "My doctor visited on Wednesday and told me to have sugar immediately because my blood sugar count dropped. He said I could go into seizures."
On a recent blog posting, Farrow wrote, "Feeling awful. Blood sugar under 40. Muscles hurt. I won't be able to continue much longer."
She added later: "I'm really struggling today. I have been instructed by my doctor to stop my fast immediately due to health concerns - including possible seizures ... I am fortunate. The women, children, and men I am fasting for do not have that option ... When beginning this fast twelve days ago, I said that when I could go no longer, I hoped another would take my place, and another, and another, until the expelled humanitarian agencies are readmitted and finally there there is finally justice and peace for the people of Darfur."
According to the blog, Virgin boss Richard Branson has "stepped forward" to take on the celebrity fasting chain.
Farrow, who only drank water only, says she originally approached her doctor for advice, asserting, "Please don't even try to talk me out of this."
Now she looks back and says: "I was very disappointed. I am a very stubborn person and very determined. I had modified my goal from 21 days and really hoped that I would reach my goal of fasting for 16 days, which is the number of aid agencies expelled." Read More From Her Interview
Farrow's hunger strike was a show of solidarity with the people of Darfur. She was inspired to do it after the Sudanese government expelled international aid agencies from the country last month.
In preparation, Farrow took vitamins and eating fruits and vegetables, and she gained 9 pounds.
"I'm just an actress," Farrow said before the strike from her home in rural Connecticut. "I'm not presuming anybody will care whether I starve to death or whether I go on a long hunger strike or what. But it's a personal matter. I can't be among those that watch ? and I honestly couldn't think of anything else to do."
"I don't know what will happen ? I have no idea," she said. "I looked it up online just to see kind of what to expect, and the reason I'm gonna try to go for three weeks is because you do permanent, irreversible damage, possibly to your organs. ... But it is a punishment to the body for sure."
Farrow has been to the Darfur region 11 times and feels compelled to return repeatedly on the peoples' behalf to "try to tell a world that seems not to care at all what's happening to them."
The war in Darfur began in early 2003 when rebel groups rose up against the government complaining of discrimination and neglect. U.N. officials say up to 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million have fled their homes.
"My goal is to one day build a museum for Darfur's people ? in Darfur," Farrow said. "Where the young people who've grown up in the midst of violence and in deplorable conditions in camps will be able to go to that museum and reclaim what's theirs."
Farrow, who has collected 40 hours of video footage of traditional ceremonies and other rites that are rarely performed in dark times, expects to return to camps on the Sudan-Chad border sometime this year.
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