In the fast-paced nature of the entertainment industry, where physical looks and body shapes are among the most looked at qualities in a person, it's no wonder celebrities suffer from eating disorders.
While she's known for her over-the-top physique, supermodel Bella Hadid used to struggle with anorexia as a teenager. In a 2022 cover story for Vogue, the model said that she used to consume just three raspberries for lunch back in the day and ended up developing an eating disorder because of her Adderall prescription.
"When you are forced to be perfect every day, in every picture, you start to look at yourself and need to see perfection at all times, and it's just not possible," she said further.
Unfortunately, these types of stories are endless, and Bella Hadid is not the only victim of this cruel environment in the industry. Here's how these Hollywood stars, from Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, and more, share their stories of battling their eating disorders.
8 Zac Efron Got Very Buff For Baywatch But Doesn't Want It Glamorized
Zac Efron is known as that Baywatch hot actor with a buff physique, but it eventually backfired on him in the latter stage of his career. Speaking during a segment of The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2019, the actor demanded fans stop glamorizing the unrealistic habit, as he stopped eating carbs totally for six months.
He said, "I got very big and buff for that movie, but I don’t want people to think that’s the best way to be. Like, be your size … Like, I don’t want to glamorize this."
7 Eminem's Substance Abuse Lead To Overeating
While Eminem has never publicly admitted that he had eating disorders, his publicly documented meltdown between 2006 and 2008 is well known. Following the death of his best friend Proof and his failing marriage to Kimberly Scott, Em's substance abuse problem took the worst turn. He reportedly gained over 230 pounds from overeating due to the addiction. He eventually got into rehab and sobered up in 2008.
"The coating on the Vicodin and the Valium I'd been taking for years leaves a hole in your stomach, so to avoid a stomachache, I was constantly eating, and eating badly," he told Men's Journal in 2015.
6 Lady Gaga Had Bulimia In High School
Lady Gaga revealed, in 2012, that she struggled for quite some time with bulimia when she was in high school. During a conference at the Brentwood School in Los Angeles, she said that the disorder damaged her vocal cords at one point.
"Every video I’m in, every magazine cover, they stretch you — they make you perfect. It’s not real life … I’m gonna say this about girls: The dieting wars have got to stop. Everyone just knocks it off," she said.
5 Paparazzi And Trolls Caused Taylor Swift To Struggle With Body Issues
Taylor Swift got candid in her 2020 Netflix special documentary Miss Americana about the dark side of her fame. She expressed how paparazzi pictures and negative online comments would sometimes trigger the worst eating disorder, saying, "I thought I was just supposed to feel like I was gonna pass out at the end of a show or in the middle of it. Now I realize, no, if you eat food, have energy, get stronger, you can do all these shows and not feel it, which is a really good revelation because I’m a lot happier with who I am I don’t care as much if somebody points out that I have gained weight."
4 Elton John Suffered From Bulimia
Decades ago, before Elton John became a well-respected household name in music, he was on the verge of losing his career after his debut album flopped. His sophomore self-titled project ultimately became his breakthrough, but it also led to the path of addiction, and for six years, he was bulimic and had a sexual addiction.
"For breakfast I’d have a fry-up, followed by 20 pots of cockles and then a tub of ice cream, so I’d throw it all up. I never stood still. I was always rushing, always thinking about the next thing. If I was eating a curry, I couldn’t wait to throw it up so that I could have the next one," he told biographer Philip Norman for the singer's tell-all book Sir Elton: The Definitive Biography.
3 Zayn Malik Went Days Without Eating
At the height of his career peak with One Direction, Zayn Malik's eating disorder caused him to go two or three days without eating a single bite of food.
He revealed in his 2016 autobiography Zayn, "When I look back at images of myself—before the final tour—I can see how ill I was. The workload and the pace of life on the road put together with the pressures and strains of everything going on within the band had badly affected my eating habits."
2 Jade Thirlwall Battled Anorexia
For five years, Little Mix's Jade Thirlwall battled anorexia as a teenager. Speaking during an episode of BBC Sound's Life Hacks podcast, she recalled how she used to wear a lot of baggy clothes to hide her body, especially as she reached popularity with the girl band from such a young age.
"It got to the point when I knew I needed someone else to tell, harboring a horrible secret like that is obviously really damaging to your mental health and obviously my physical health," she said.
1 Demi Lovato Has Had An Unhealthy Relationship With Food
Two-time Grammy nominee Demi Lovato's early rise to fame impacted her life severely, as she had to deal with anorexia during her back-to-back phases in the 2010s. Three months prior to her overdosing after six years of sobriety in July 2018, the singer relapsed into her symptoms, and it's been a roller coaster since then.
“I had started working at that time and was under a lot of stress so I would bake cookies for my family and I would eat all of them and nobody would have any to eat,” Demi said in a 2021 video on her YouTube channel. “That was my first memory of food being that medicine for me.”
