10 Stars Who Have Opened Up About Their Eating Disorders
Published on July 2, 2014. Updated April 4, 2017The rich and famous don’t always have it so easy. Sometimes fame can exacerbate issues that were already there or it can create a serious amount of insecurity. Being in the spotlight isn’t always a walk in the park – you need a really thick skin and not all celebrities have it. Many stars who have struggled with eating disorders were already struggling with them before they became famous while others only started dealing with them after they were thrust into the spotlight. Talking about these issues helps others who are struggling with them to cope – and we applaud these stars for speaking out. Here are 10 celebrities who have opened up about their eating disorders.
10. Geri Halliwell
Geri Halliwell has revealed that she battled bulimia and, if it wasn’t for Robbie Williams, she probably would have died. “I was worried I’d get fat. I would binge and then felt fatter and would make myself sick. It was awful,” she said. “Robbie knew about my bulimia and he advised me to get help. He told me to go to rehab and that possibly saved my life. The bulimia would have got worse without it. I will always be grateful to him, always.”
Featureflash / Shutterstock.com9. Stephanie Pratt
Stephanie Pratt had already been struggling with body image issues before she landed a part on the hit reality show “The Hills;” however, once she was in the spotlight, she found herself binging and purging in an effort to not look heavier than her uber skinny co-stars. “I was horrified. I remember saying, ‘I can’t believe how huge I look walking over to Lauren,’” she said. Pratt got herself help and found herself in a better place.
Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com8. Ke$ha
Earlier this year, Ke$ha checked into a Chicago rehab facility to deal with an eating disorder. “My eating disorder is something I’ve been struggling with for a while. People will make up stories, but I went to rehab for an eating disorder – nothing more and nothing less. I decided to face my problem head-on,” the 27-year-old star told Teen Vogue. “My whole message is to love who you are and accept all your beautiful imperfections.”
s_bukley / Shutterstock.com7. Candace Cameron Bure
After Candace Cameron Bure married hockey pro Valeri Bure and moved to Montreal to support him and his career, she found herself struggling with bulimia. “I turned to food for comfort and had to find a different source, because clearly it wasn’t a healthy way to deal with things. So that’s really when my faith was kicked up a notch and sought comfort in my relationship with God, and not with food,” the former “Full House” star said.
Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com6. Lily Allen
Lily Allen has come out and admitted that she was bulimic. “I used to vomit after meals. It’s not something I’m proud of. But, I tell you what, a lot of people came up to me telling me how great I looked and I’d be on the cover of every magazine…But I wasn’t happy, I really wasn’t…I would love to be the skinniest minniest person in the world but I can’t do that without being unhappy – I like food,” she said in the Channel 4 documentary “Riches To Rags.”
Featureflash / Shutterstock.com5. Portia De Rossi
Portia De Rossi began struggling with bulimia and anorexia before she was a teenager. “Ever since I was 12 years old, I would starve myself daily and then binge after the job was over. And that was just the diet I returned to every single time I needed to lose weight,” the “Arrested Development” star said. When De Rossi joined the cast of “Ally McBeal” back in 1998, her eating disorder spiraled completely out of control. After living on only 300 calories a day, her weight plummeted to 82 pounds. “It wasn’t that I was proud of it, but it was certainly a recognition for my self-control,” she said.
s_bukley / Shutterstock.com4. Kelly Clarkson
Kelly Clarkson revealed that she had an eating disorder during an interview with CosmoGirl magazine back in 2007. According to the “American Idol” winner, she struggled with bulimia as a freshman in high school after she lost out on a part in a high school musical to a singer who was skinnier, but less talented. “I thought if I came back and I was cuter and thinner – then I’ll get the role. The lesson I took from that was purely superficial, but that’s what I grew up thinking for a long time. It wasn’t smart, and I headed straight into an eating disorder and became bulimic for the next six months,” Clarkson said.
Featureflash / Shutterstock.com3. Demi Lovato
Demi Lovato has been quite open about her struggle with bulimia. “I was compulsively overeating when I was eight years old. So, I guess, for the past 10 years, I’ve had a really unhealthy relationship with food,” the “X Factor” judge told “20/20.” When she was on tour with the Jonas Brothers, her problems came back. “I was performing concerts on an empty stomach. I was losing my voice from purging. I was self-medicating. I was not taking medication for depression, and I literally was so emotionally whacked out that I took it out on someone that meant a lot to me.”
s_bukley / Shutterstock.com2. Christina Ricci
Christina Ricci struggled with anorexia when she was a teenager. She revealed on “The Talk” that she dealt with the disorder for a year and a half and required therapy to overcome it. “I think it’s just really awkward to go through puberty, and go through growing up and becoming a woman, when everybody is always kind of looking at you. And especially – you’re doing fittings for a movie, and people are judging how this looks on you and how that looks on you. And you just get very uncomfortable and you never want anyone to be able to criticize you,” she said.
s_bukley / Shutterstock.com1. Nicole Scherzinger
The former Pussycat Dolls singer has admitted to struggling with an eating disorder in the past. She told British Cosmopolitan in their August 2014 issue that, during the height of the Dolls success, she was struggling with bulimia. “It is such a horrible, paralyzing disease and it was such a dark time for me. I didn’t think anyone knew in my group or in my family because I hid it that well, I was so ashamed. I knew it wasn’t normal or healthy because I was hurting myself through this cycle of disordered eating,” Scherzinger said.
Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com