Will mentioned earlier in this blog that he’s always on the lookout for famous people coping with mental disorders. They can be inspirational - but in some cases, negatively so.
“Thinspiration” images used in eating disorders are popular with the pro-ana movement and often feature celebrities. Mary-Kate Olsen, Lindsay Lohan, and even the first celebrity eating disorder in the news, Karen Carpenter, are viewed as role models. Idolized. Glamorous photos of very thin bodies presented as the height of beauty are traded in some ED forums. Although any angular supermodel can suffice as thinspiration, it’s the celebrities who share the diagnosis that are special, offer a perceived kinship that is in some ways quite positive. It’s comforting to know someone understands your pain, and recovered.
But to suffer more pain in order to try and look like the disordered, glamorized bodies is pathological, and must be factored into treatment. Celebrity gossip can be triggering. Unlike famous people with bipolar disorders and other types of mental disorder not associated with body dysmorphia, in the instance of anorexia, bulimia, ED-NOS, etc. it may not helpful to laud role models. For every ED consumer who may be inspired to seek help, there are others who find it reinforcing.
Read more about pro-ana and celebrities.
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All about Mental Disorder » celebrities-with-mental-disorders (8/23/2008)
15 Comments to
“Celebrities With Eating Disorders”
I know, I know, it’s a sickness. But how many of us prayed for just a “little bit of anorexia nervosa when we were 14? No wonder the celebrities give in to the pressure. “Everybody’s doing it.”
Absolutely. I remember a joke from SCTV, Andrea Martin in character saying “I would kill to be anorexic, just for a week.”
I imagine celebrities are under even more pressure than most, since they’re in a business that demands extreme beauty standards to make a living.
In referece to celebrities with EDs, I find it entirely sickening. By celebrities promoting eating disorders, it just increases the popularity of it all. Having been there myself at a young age, I still find after a year of recovery that seeing skeletal celebrities is a trigger and makes the illness all the more appealing. In reference to the quotes, it shocks me just how much our media has becom obsessed with thinness and weight-loss. Even I can remember when I told my best friend in sixth grade that I wanted to be anorexic. It’s just so frustrating how we demoralize and dispise ourselves to such great depths.
Celebrities are so narcissistically gratified by followers that they are willing to allow their fans to imitate their behavior on and off the screen. In cases in which they are engaged in self-destructive behaviors such as those behaviors associated with eating disorders, they need to be willing to openly acknowledge the fact that they ahve a problem and say to fans:
Don’t Follow Me: words/music by Dr. BLT (c)2006
http://www.drblt.net/music/dont.mp3
Dr. BLT
The World’s First Blog n Roll Artist
Cool song, Dr. BLT. Thanks!
well i reckon you should show pictures more or we will never know how they are
kk
kool
g2g cya
Eating Disorders Suck!
i think celebs with ed’s are just like athletes who have to take steroids due to the pressure thats exerted to them no matter what the sport. there’s a disturbing trend affecting people in general in it’s that of the image. we saw this years ago in the modeling world, the term “heroine sheen” should ring a bell to some of you out there. we all are image hungry, from a housewife to a celeb.
Hello,
I am doing an assignment and was looking for negative effects on how celeberites make people have eating disorders on people. 
I Am Doing and Assignment about Celebrities with eating Disorders. I had No Problem fding which celebrities had them but One other question I need to answer is What do all these celebrities have in common, besides their celebrity status?
If they weren’t celebrities, then they likely wouldn’t have the same things in common. To be a celebrity it takes certain qualities, like ambition. As celebrities with eating disorders, of course they have in common the criteria for the diagnosis. That can include qualities you need to succeed, like discipline. But if they weren’t celebrities they may not have similar personality traits. Does that help?
A good web site is NEDIC http://www.nedic.ca/
Thanks for your comment, Jimmy!
awryteee
am doin a essay in skl aboot eatin disorders nd aht ws wunderin if yeee cood gee us a shouttt help us oot nd aw aht. a need a cuple eh famous peeps tae ryt aboot..!
catch yee (K)
Every female celebrity has some level of anorexia, i mean wouldn’t you?? Their bodies are scrutinised and evaluated everyday of their lives. All this “im happy to have curves” garbage is crap!
I know a teen actress who is big in the t.v industry now… No im not gonna mention her name… She is depressed coz she think shes fat but she cant lose weight coz shes a role model 4 millions of kids worldwide. All im sayin is that there is a lot of pressure on them about their weight and almost all of them have it.
Nowadays, it’s not even shocking to hear news about female celebrities, suspected of anorexia. Losing significant amount of weight in a couple of weeks, even days, is a praiseworthy technique that all celeb-fans wish to learn. But it’s very sad how many people innocently start dieting like crazy just to become thin like the celebrities on TV. Often times, these wrong dieting habits lead to death and who is to blame..?
I would like to believe that celebrities are also normal people. I just can’t believe how they have to follow strict and sometimes unrealistic pressure to be thin. I read on http://www.anorexia-tips.org how young women suffer from anorexia for a lot of reasons. It certainly is a helpful site for those who want to know more about this eating disorder. I know I have.
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Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 23 Jun 2006
