Celebrities
with Eating Disorders
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Alanis Morissette |
Find a celebrity by alphabet (first name) Barbara NivenActress Barbara Niven is beautiful, blond, and brave - brave enough to go public about her bulimia. "By sharing my experiences I hope that others who may still be hiding their problem may take their first steps toward recovery," says the star of the syndicated TV hit Pensacola: Wings of Gold. "Bulimia is a hidden disease. To fight it, first you have to recognize you have it. Then you need to start talking about." Like many women (and men too), I have been battling eating disorders and self image problems most of my life, starting at age 15. I did it all: anorexia, bulimia, binging, over-exercise. But no matter how much weight I lost I could never look "skinny". It's not my body type! So I always felt disgusting and like a failure. I hated myself
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and my body, but always tried to hide how I felt behind a smile. It was my secret shame. 
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Bethenny Frankel
Brittany Snow |
Us Weekly reports: Spears is in the middle of a divorce with aspiring rapper Kevin Federline. The pair have two sons, Sean Preston and Jayden James. The pop princess was sent to Promises rehab center for alcohol abuse and was released on March 20. She seemed as if she was ready to turn her life around but recent reports say she is drinking again, binge shopping and eating too much. Star magazine estimates Spears weighs at least 135 pounds now. Daily express reports: that Britney Spears has confessed to doctors that she has been suffering from the eating disorder bulimia since she was 16. The 25-year-old singer tearfully told rehab staff – already treating her for drug and alcohol abuse – that she “pigs out” on junk food like burgers, sweets, biscuits and ice cream then makes herself vomit to avoid putting on weight. Britney’s nine-year nightmare, revealed in an American magazine, was confirmed by a senior source at the £24,000-a-month Promises centre in Malibu, California. She entered the centre last month after shaving her head at a hair salon. |
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Brtiney Spears Sufferred Bulimia for Many Years
It has surfaced that Britney Spears told doctors at rehab that she has been bulimic since the age of 16. Reportedly Britney told staff at Promises that she had the disease for years, with the exception of her pregnancies.
According to an American magazine, Spears admitted that she “pigs out” on junk food before she purges. A source told the Daily Express,
"Doctors are alarmed at the physical state she is in. They confronted her about her desperately unhealthy lifestyle and the truth came pouring out.
“For the first few days, she’d take her tablets, then go off and eat breakfast or lunch. She was throwing the whole lot up, so, naturally, her medications weren’t working. Now the medical experts know why, her progress should pick up a little speed."
Bruce Vilanch
There’s a good deal of comparison here of eating disorders with alcoholism and other drug addictions, and the contributors have a diversity of theories about the nature, cause, and cure of their conditions. Except for the obese comedy writer and actor Bruce Vilanch, who cheerfully denies that he has a problem, they have all experienced a sense of recovery, and all say that they are able now to eat in a healthy middle way, without starving or bingeing. They testify to a great diversity of recovery pathways, such as anti-anxiety medications, psychological counseling, nutrition therapy, dialectical and cognitive behavior therapies, will power, self-discipline, surgery, and a handful who used 12-step. The book sometimes tests the reader’s patience with the contributors’ narcissism – what do you expect from celebrities? – but it is, all the same, a useful and readable collection of anecdotal material about its topic. – Marty N. 11/8/2006
