Hollywood's famous faces who've battled eating disorders will blow your mind

The glamour of Hollywood often hides the harsh realities under the rug that many celebrities face, including the struggle with eating disorders.

What are eating disorders?

It is a mental health condition characterised by abnormal eating habits that can harm a person's physical and emotional well-being.

A person living with an eating disorder may experience a range of challenges, including warped body image, restrictive eating, bingeing and purging, emotional struggles and physical health issues such as malnutrition, and digestive problems.

You won’t believe but entertainment industry's biggest names such as Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, and Demi Lovato are among celebrities battling such disorders.

So, let’s delve into the unseen struggle of Hollywood’s famous faces who've battled eating disorders:

1. Taylor Swift

The 35-year-old singer in her 2020 Netflix documentary, Miss Americana, revealed that she struggled with an eating disorder throughout her very successful career.

“My relationship with food was exactly the same psychology that I applied to everything else in my life: If I was given a pat on the head, I registered that as good. If I was given a punishment, I registered that as bad,” said the Anti-Hero hitmaker, noting that this mentality, paired with public scrutiny, led her to restrict food.

Swift went on to say that she didn't realise at the time that she was not meant to feel fatigued after performing, saying. “I thought that I was supposed to feel like I was going to 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,” in the end, the fiancé of Travis Kelce noted.

2. Lady Gaga

The pop star revealed that she has suffered from bulimia, a form of eating disorder, since she was a teenager and how it affected her life.

Gaga has shared about her battle with bulimia and negative body image and once talked about how being in the public eye has contributed to her struggle with body image.

However, in 2014, the Bloody Mary singer told Harper's Bazaar, “I don't have an eating disorder anymore.”

Gaga went on to add that she doesn't let people treat her like a doll now, but a human being.

“I speak up now. I realized that it's my own fault that people take advantage,” Lady Gaga noted.

3. Zoë Kravitz

The Batman actress has battled with anorexia and bulimia, which according to her, started as a teenager and followed her into adulthood.

“I think it was part of being a woman, and being surrounded by [fame],” Kravitz told Complex magazine in 2015, adding, “I think it was definitely about being around that world, seeing that world. I felt pressured.”

4. Zayn Malik

The former One Direction musician spoke out about his struggle with an eating disorder in his 2016 book, Zayn.

According to Malik, the intensity of his jam-packed schedule at the height of One Direction's popularity led him to skip multiple meals in a row, and sometimes for multiple days.

“Something I've never talked about in public before, but which I have come to terms with since leaving the band, is that I was suffering from an eating disorder,” he wrote in his book, adding, “It wasn't as though I had any concerns about my weight or anything like that, I'd just go for days — sometimes two or three days straight — without eating anything at all. It got quite serious, although at the time I didn't recognize it for what it was.”

5. Lily Collins

The Emily in Paris actress suffered from an eating disorder as a teenager and had opened up about it for the first time during her movie To the Bone in 2017.

Collings told IMDb Studio, “This was definitely a more dramatic role for me; I suffered with eating disorders when I was a teenager as well.”

The Mirror Mirror actress went on to say, “I wrote a book last year and I wrote my chapter on my experiences a week before I got the script and it was like the universe putting these things in my sphere to help me face, kind of dead on, a fear that I used to have.

“And, a way to explain it as someone who's gone through it and to open up a topic that is considered quite taboo with young people nowadays, male, female, and to really start a conversation.”

6. Demi Lovato

Lovato battling an eating disorder was hidden from the spotlight as she entered a treatment facility in 2011 for anorexia and bulimia at the age of 18.

“I'd be lying if I said there weren't days where I just want to stay in bed all day because I'm ashamed of my body,” the Heart Attack singer told PEOPLE.

The Let It Go hitmaker went on to say, “It's a struggle I'll probably have to deal with for the rest of my life. But I have so much life to live; I don't want to waste it.”

During an interview with American Way, the singer also candidly discussed growing up with a mother who suffered from an eating disorder and how an early introduction to the beauty pageant scene affected her self-image.

7. Kesha

Kesha had struggled with her eating disorder and completed a rehab program for her disorder in 2014.

While talking about it to Vogue, the Tik Tok hitmaker shared. "There was a lot of not eating — and I started to think being hungry to the point of feeling almost faint was a positive thing.”

The singer, whose real name is Kesha Rose Sebert, shared, “The worse it got, the more positive feedback I was getting. Inside I was really unhappy, but outside, people were like, 'Wow, you look great.'”

The Blah Blah Blah songstress ended up going to a rehab facility specifically for people experiencing eating disorders.

According to her, she realised being healthy is the most important thing she can do for herself.

8. Camila Mendes

The Riverdale star is another celebrity who struggled with bulimia when she was in high school, college and starting out in Hollywood.

While talking to SHAPE in 2018 about her struggle, Mendes said, “I was so scared of carbs that I wouldn't let myself eat bread or rice ever. I'd go a week without eating them, then I would binge on them, and that would make me want to purge.”

“If I ate a sweet, I would be like, 'Oh my God, I'm not going to eat for five hours now.' I was always punishing myself,” the Upgraded star said, adding, “I was even anxious about healthy food: Did I eat too much of the avocado? Did I have too many fats for one day? I was consumed with the details of what I was eating, and I always felt as if I was doing something wrong.”

Mendes worked with a therapist and a nutritionist to address her disordered eating, with the actress opening about her experiences with her social media following.

“I realized that I have this platform, and young women and men who look up to me, and there is a tremendous power to do something positive with it," the Do Revenge actress told her social media followers, adding, “It was definitely a very vulnerable thing to put that out there to almost 12 million people on social media. But that's who I am.”

9. Russell Brand

The English comedian, actor, radio host, and YouTuber has battled with binge eating disorder as a child.

In Russell Brand on Self-Esteem & Food, the Forgetting Sarah Marshall actor talks about his love of comfort eating and feeling bad about himself after indulging.

Brand has learned that he needs structure around food; to make conscious, healthy choices; and to be grateful for and love the body he has.

“I suppose what I have to let go of,” the Despicable Me star said, adding, “Is the idea of the archetype of the perfect body that I’m trying to aspire to.”

10. Demi Moore

Moore, who has been open about her struggles with body image and eating disorders in the past, revealed she developed an eating disorder when she was younger.

According to the The Substance actress, she cited the reason of disorder because of the immense pressures she felt in Hollywood.

“There is a lot of torment I put myself through when I was younger,” the ex-wife of Bruce Willis said.