According to Do Something, approximately 24 million people in the United State struggle with an eating disorder. Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate among mental illnesses. For women between the ages of 15 and 24, the mortality rate of anorexia is 12 times higher than any other cause of death.
However, anorexia is not the only eating disorder and not the only dangerous one. These courageous celebrities have spoken out about all types of eating disorders and the reasons they developed them.
1. Demi Lovato
In an interview with American Way, Demi Lovato opened up about how her grandmother and her mother, a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, both struggled with bulimia. She discussed how she started binge eating when she was only nine years old.
Since then, she has come a long way. In an interview with Seventeen, she said: “I wish I could tell every young girl with an eating disorder, or who has harmed herself in any way, that she’s worthy of life and that her life has meaning. You can overcome and get through anything.”
2. Kesha
Kesha opened up to People about entering rehab for her eating disorder. She told them, “I’ll be unavailable for the next 30 days, seeking treatment for my eating disorder, to learn to love myself again, exactly as I am.”
3. Lady Gaga
In 2013, Lady Gaga told Harper’s Bazaar, “I am better with food. I don’t have an eating disorder anymore. I’m also better at not letting people take advantage of me. Five years ago, when I spotted someone with a hidden agenda, I allowed them to stay around me. I didn’t want to believe it. I thought if I ignored it, then they would eventually see me again—that I’m a human being and not a doll. But it doesn’t work that way. I speak up now. I realized that it’s my own fault that people take advantage. I should be around people who cherish my talents, my health, my time.”
4. Zayn Malik
This former One Direction member opened up to The Sun about how he felt that his eating disorder was more about control than about having body issues. He said, “I think it was about control. I didn’t feel like I had control over anything else in my life, but food was something I could control, so I did.”
5. Candace Cameron Bure
Candace Cameron Bure was an inspiration to others in an interview with Cosmopolitan where she said, “This was many years ago that I struggled with bulimia. I’m just a voice starring my story to provide hope.” Bure continues to spread light and hope of recovery as a spokesperson for Eating Recovery Center.
6. Lauren Alaina
After Lauren Alaina was a runner-up on American Idol, she learned that a blogger had named her ‘Miss Piggy.’ She was 16 at the time, but had always struggled with body issues. She overcame her eating disorder and told The Tennessean, “I was letting someone I was never going to be in the same room with impact my everyday happiness. I still wake up with the uglies, and I still have days where I say things to myself that I shouldn’t say. But, I feel like speaking out about it has made me want to be healthier.”
7. Lucy Hale
The Pretty Little Liars star opened up about her eating disorder to The Huffington Post. She told them, “I’ve never really talked about this, but I would go days without eating. Or maybe I’d have some fruit and then go to the gym for three hours. I knew I had a problem. It was a gradual process, but I changed myself.”
8. Troian Bellisario
In a PSA to encourage people to vote for Hillary Clinton, Troian Bellisario says, “With anorexia, a lot of it is presenting a front of ‘everything is okay’ as you’re slowly killing yourself. Gone were the days when I was just a happy, carefree kid who was running around and studiedly I felt this inability to interact with people and to nourish myself.”
In the same interview, she gives hope to others by saying, “I just want to make sure that everybody has the same opportunity for treatment that I have.”
9. Jessica Alba
Jessica Alba told Glamour Magazine, “A lot of girls have eating disorders, and I did, too. I became obsessed with it. I never see myself as a beautiful woman and have traded on that to get ahead in this business.”
10. Naya Rivera
In her autobiography, Sorry Not Sorry, Naya Rivera admitted, “One day I just decided to see how long I could go without eating.”
She also says, “By the time I was a sophomore, I had started feeling that what had begun as a game had maybe gone too far. I just avoided food at all costs.”
11. Russell Brand
Russell Brand told The Guardian that he was 11 years old when he began to binge eat and vomit. He revealed that he thought his eating disorder was about “getting out of myself and isolation, feeling inadequate and unpleasant.”
12. Evanna Lynch
One of our favorite “Harry Potter” stars struggled with an eating disorder for two years. She told The Sun, “It’s very hard to let go of an eating disorder, to say: ‘I’m enough, I don’t need that anymore. I’m past that’. When people stared writing me saying: ‘That really helped me,’ it really empowered me, it made me think: ‘This is way cooler than being the skinniest person in the room.'”
13. Shawn Johnson
This Olympian told Reuters, “We have a cookie cutter image that is deemed acceptable, and it’s almost like if you aren’t that image, you aren’t accepted in the world today, and I fell into it.”
She told People, “I’d rather share my story than know someone else is going through what I did. It’s not hard to talk about it anymore, just because I’ve gone through it.”
14. Mary Kate Olsen
In an interview with Elle, Mary-Kate said, “I think the hardest part to get to is that point of asking for help or reaching out to other people and being honest with yourself. I do not want to go through my life with my eyes shut. And I don’t want to go through it with a closed mind. I want to be aware of things. And I’d rather know than not know.”
15. Dennis Quaid
According to People, Dennis Quaid struggled with anorexia in the mid-1990s. He revealed the truth about how anorexics view themselves when he said, “I’d look in the mirror and still see a 180-lb guy, even though I was 138 pounds.”
16. Ariana Grande
This pop princess spoke out about eating disorders in “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens” by saying, “Too many young girls have eating disorders due to low self-esteem and a distorted body image. I think it’s so important for girls to love themselves and to treat their bodies respectfully.
17. Brittany Snow
Brittany Snow is my personal favorite actress and role model. She told People, “Today, being able to have a conversation and not think about what I’m eating? Amazing. I still see a therapist, but I eat like a normal person. I don’t count calories—and I know the calories in every food. I go to the gym three times a week and do pilates three times a week, but not for more than an hour. It’s not healthy.”
She opened up about her nine-year battle with anorexia and became an inspiration to others by saying, “The eating disorder will always be a part of my life. Some days, I think I’d like to be a size zero, but realistically, I think, ‘Come on, Brit. You’re great.'”
18. Jade Thirwall
In Litte Mix’s book, Our World, Jade Thirwall wrote, “Anorexia is a self-destructive thing, and you become stubborn. So, when people are telling you something you get it into your head that they’re against you, and your’e not going to listen.”
She continues, “It took going to the hospital to make me realize that it wasn’t a game. It was something really serious. They sat me down in the clinic and were quite tough at first, spelling it out: ‘You’re destroying your body, and if you keep doing this, you will die.'”
If you are struggling with an eating disorder, you can call the confidential Helpline at 1-800-931-2237. You can also visit the National Eating Disorder Association online.