Paula Abdul:
The nice  judge has endured her own share of pain. She struggled with her own 'inner demons' just like so many of us. She battled bulimia nervosa and decided to check herself in a clinic, back in 1994. She has been 'in recovery' ever since.But,E! Online's presentation of "Paula Abdul: The E! True Hollywood Story", revealed that the demands of fame and her battle with bulimia have all played a partin shaping the person she is today. |
Jessica Alba:
"I got obsessed with it," the 5-foot-7,size 4 actress told Glamour Magazine.
"A lot of girls have eating disordersand I did too. I got too thin.Now, I am concentrating on being normal." |
Fiona Apple: Fiona Apple, famous singer/songwriter, was raped outside of her apartment at the age of twelve...This is, I think, no matter your age, a rather traumatic/distablizing event! As a result, paranoia set in: she would check her closets to make sure no one was hiding in the house. Understandly, Fiona was nervous around older men and had terrible,violent dreams.She then developed an eating disorder. Today, Fiona is frustrated with the misunderstanding of her eating disorder. She says, "I definitely had an eating disorder. What was really frustrating for me was that everyone thought I was anorexic, and I wasn't. I was really depressed and self-loathing. For me, it wasn't about being thin, it was about getting rid of the bait attached to my body. A lot of it came from the self-loathing that came from being raped at the point of developing my voluptuousness. I just thought that if you had a body and if you had anything on you that would be grabbed, it would be grabbed. So I did purposely get rid of it." As a result of her eating disorder, Fiona became extremely thin, but was written off by the media as trying to "fit in." "It was colors.I couldn't eat things that looked a certain way,a certain color." The reason she was like that was because she felt she had no control over her life.This was her way to get back that sense of control.
| Elton John: He came public about his battle with bulimia, which lasted for 14 long years (from 1984 to 1990:) "I would gorge myself, then deliberately make myself sick. For breakfast I'd have an enormous fry-up, followed by 20 pots of cockles ((shellfish)) and then a tub of Haagen-Dazs vanilla. . . . If I was eating a curry, I couldn't wait to throw it up so that I could have the next one."*I don't know 'why' but so far, this is one of the best testimonial of what it's like to struggle with bulimia. I especially like Elton's way of describing it.* |
Tracey Gold:   Tracey Gold is a working actress well-known to audiences throughout the world. Since the age of 4 she has appeared in feature films, television series and movies-of-the-week.As a teenager, she co-starred in the popular sit-com "Growing Pains" for seven years, she played the role of the wholesome, brainy Carol Seaver in a picture-perfect 80ies American Family. Gold was a pretty and professional young star with a limitless future. But, behind the smiles, she was experiencing her very own growing pains. She was failing her subjects in school and later, was being diagnosed with A.D.D (Attention Deficit Disorder)...More alarmingly, she was fighting the battle of her life against anorexia nervosa. It's been 10 years since photos of a shockingly thin Gold faced us from the cover of one of People Magazine's best-selling issues EVER. Today, an old and wiser Gold is ready to share her story. She opened up and wrote her story, according to HER perceptions of that period of her life, in her new book entitled, " Room to Grow-An Appetite for Life". |
The "Barbi Twins": Known as THE BARBI TWINS, Shane and Sia Barbi first shot to fame in the mid 90's with two of Playboy's top selling issues. The Barbi Twins also started the multimillion-dollar calendar business with four worldwide #1 selling calendars. This made them household names and generated TV & movie scripts which were written for them, exclusively. After becoming comic book heroines, "The Hollywood Icons", as the media called them,took a sabbatical at the peak of their careers.The choice of a quiet life enabled them to recover from their life-death struggle with bulimia. Weeklong fasts to lose weight for fashion shows and photo shoots were followed by bouts of non-stop eating. "I went feast and famine,feast and famine.That was my wholelife.There was no such thing as sitting down to a normal meal," says Sia.
The sisters deny using cosmetic enhancements and claim their bodies are the result of a super-human exercise routine."I did 10 hours of exercise seven days a week," says Sia."I was in so much pain all the time." Eventually,the sisters developed full-blown bulimia - Shane would vomit,Sia took laxatives.At one point,the two -5 feet 9 inches tall-weighed just over 100 pounds each.Rock bottom came when Sia collapsed after taking more than 100 laxatives."It looked
like she had a cardiac arrest or she was paralyzed on the right side,"says Shane.She got immediate medical help and recovered from her overdose,but her doctor warned her that if she didn't stop,she would die.Shane's husband encouraged them to attend meetings of Overeaters Anonymous,a 12-step program.
They have written a book and are touring high schools and colleges,telling young
women not to make the same mistakes they made.
|
Elisa Donovan: Actress Elisa Donovan, who played fashion victim Amber in the
TV series "Clueless", crossed over the line in 1992 to battle
anorexia. "At first, I'd eat no fat," Elisa says. "Then, I'd just eat breakfast--cereal and toast-- and not eat
again until night." Within a couple of years, the 5-ft,6-in.actress weighed only 90 pounds. Elisa, who finally overcame anorexia, puts it, "I never thought someday I'd have to eat something or die." |
Sally Field: She began her three-year bout with bulimia at 20,spurred,she has said,by the perception that "everybody then was Twiggy,except me".Field has faced eating disorders that,during her days as TV's Flying Nun in the '60s,caused the 5-foot.2-in. actress,who normally weighs 100 pounds,to binge on candy and balloon 20 pounds. |
Justine Bateman:
The former Family Ties star made a lot of rules for herself:"I can have one more cookie if I go throw it all up later.Or I can have this now if I skip lunch later," she said in the Nov. 9 edition of the U.S. TV Guide. "I'm talking mainly about doing stuff like not eating when I'm hungry. Or, eating more than I really want to and then trying to get rid of it." Bateman said she was sure people knew. "In fact, when they'd say, 'You look anorexic,' I'd take it as a compliment." In September 1996, Bateman went public for the first time with the revelation that she had suffered from bouts of anorexia, bulimia and compulsive overeating while making ''Family Ties.'' |
Christina Ricci:
Explaining her anorexia in her teens years,
she revealed:"I had a brief flirtation with
anorexia and when I was recovering from that,
I put on a lot of weight,which was very dif-
ficult for me. In a way, I was trying to get
rid of my breasts. Everyone my age wanted them,
so it was like, wohoo! Then, I started hating
them. And for all my movies,I was supposed to
be younger,so I had to strap them down." |
Carre Otis: Model and actress Carré Otis starved herself for nearly 17 years. The five-foot-ten fashion model, once whittled herself down to 100 pounds--and nearly died in her quest for thinness. Today, she is healthy and trying to educate other women about the deadly dangers of eating disorders. |
Magali Amadei: Her name is Magali Amadei. She's one of the most sought-after models around, gracing some of our most popular magazines as an ideal of beauty in the `90s. But for seven years, she struggled with the dangerous eating disorder, bulimia. Now, Magali Amadei is getting the message out about bulimia to high school kids across the country. |
Melanie Chisolm: While ex-bandmate Geri Halliwell has spoken at length about her battle with bulimia,Mel has kept quiet about her own suffering until now. Back in 2003, Mel C spoke to the UK's "The Mirror" Newspaper. Here's what she said during her interview, "You know how people have a mid-life crisis?Well,I had a mid-20s crisis.The problem started years ago,mainly because,throughout the time I was in the Spice Girls,I had an eating disorder.It was not as
serious as anorexia but I didn't eat normally." "That messed with my health and triggered a chemical imbalance which affected my moods. When the Spice Girls got together I was only 20 and although I thought I knew it all, I was still a baby. To deal with what happened to us however amazing it felt at the time - was incredibly hard. We had fantastic times and very difficult times. People say they wouldn't change a thing but there's quite a bit I'd change. Especially the way I handled it."  "Everyone knows about Geri's eating disorders," she says. "It's easy to be influenced by another person's behaviour when you spend lots of time with them...And once you start losing weight, it's very addictive." --"Throughout the heyday of the Spice Girls, my diet became more and more
restrictive, until I was just eating fruit and veg. I went on faddy diets and
didn't touch protein or carbohydrates, which was ridiculous, as we were running
around like maniacs. I was underweight and living on adrenalin. That screws your
body up and I believe it had a lot to do with bringing on the depression."When she visited her family, Melanie ate healthily so as not to arouse their suspicion. "My mum assumed my tiny body was a result of being busy with the band and working out regularly," she says. "She didn't have a clue I was in the gym for three hours every day. You become very secretive." |
Geri Halliwell:
Former Spice Girl,Geri Halliwell, has been in and out of therapy inher battle against bulimia and binge eating. She has been suffering from the eating disorder for several years, until a three-day binge made her seek help. In early 2002, she checked into a US clinic to help with her bulimia. About her bingeing, she said, "I realised I couldn't control this monster anymore.I needed to find help.About group therapy, she said: "Here, everyone was equal. Fame and for- tune counted for nothing." Despite having occasional relapses, she believes therapy has helped her: "It happens (bingeing) less of- ten now and it's easier to regain control." Her piece of advice for those who are struggling??? "I can honestly tell you from personal experience, that worrying about an eating dis- order really can get you down. There's nothing to be ashamed about. You'll be amazed at the difference it'll make to your whole life if you tell someone you trust. There are lots of people who want to help and you really CAN'T fight this one on your own. It might be a hard decision to make, to tell people and to seek help but, trust me it's no- where as hard as trying to deal with it on your own." |
 Geri's personal pictures of her "anorexic days" ... |
Chris Farley A manic, rotund comedian, Farley describedhimself as a "class clown" and "teacher's nightmare" ... He was part of the original cast on "Saturday Night Live". On December 18, 1997, Chris Farley died, at age 33.The same age that his idol, John Belushi died. Same age, similar cause of death: drug overdose. Farley's death seems to be a consequence of his life-long struggle with drug and alcohol abuse, as well as compulsive overeating.. |
Courtney Thorne-Smith: "I started undereating,overexercising,pushing myself too hard and brutalizingmy immune system."--"The amount of time I spent thinking about food and being upset about my body was insane." |
Victoria Beckham:
Victoria Beckham has admitted for the first time that she suffered from an eating disorder.After years in "denial", that she had anorexia in the past (or any kind of eating disorder) Victoria opened up...She said that for a time she was "obsessed" with her appearance. The revelation was made, by Victoria, in an extract from her autobiography. "In the gym, instead of checking my posture or position, I was checking the size of my bottom, or to see if my double chin was getting any smaller," she wrote.She has admitted that in the early days of the Spice Girls, when they were under pressure from their management to lose weight, dieting was a preoccupation.Beckham said it was Geri Halliwell, who encouraged her and Mel C to go running and take liquid meal substitutes.In the following years, Beckham began to binge eat - in one passage from her autobiography she describes eating 10 bowls of Frosties in one sitting. | "SOMETHING IS DEFINETLY WRONG" pics: Here is Victoria,after giving birth to her first son,Brooklyn, in 1999-2000:  VICTORIA,TODAY:  |
Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden:
This picture at the "Ball Of The Order Of Innocence", in 1997. That was when rumors first started. People were stunned by her shocking thinness and worried. Shortly after,Royal family members' representative made a public announcement: "Princess Victoria has left Sweden and is now in the USA, where she's get- ting the care she needed. |