Anne-Marie has opened up about how her past issues with her body image led to her turning to dangerous weight gain pills she bought on the internet.
The singer, 30, revealed her struggles with disordered eating in her new book You Deserve Better, which aims to help her fans overcome their own struggles.
Anne-Marie revealed that she developed a fear of throwing up when she was a child, which led to her restricting her diet to just cheese sandwiches and crisps.
She found things got worse after her GCSE exams when she was 16 when her weight further plummeted, adding: ‘I stopped eating properly. I got really skinny — unhealthily so.’
After going on tour with Rudimental at the age of 22, Anne-Marie found that the increasing focus on curvy body shapes made her want to change her own, which led to her using risky tablets bought online to try and put weight back on.
Anne-Marie explained: ‘I’d been obsessed with being thin but I started to notice the girls they found attractive were curvy.
‘Of course, me being me, I took that on board 110 per cent and totally changed my approach overnight. I started buying pills off the internet that made me put on weight. It was ridiculous, and dangerous.
‘But I still wasn’t happy because I was still trying to be something that I wasn’t.’
The Friends singer ends up getting cognitive behavioural therapy in 2018 after the releasee of her album Speak Your Mind, after experiencing depression.
‘I was so sad I couldn’t cry,’ she admitted. ‘I went to a CBT therapist for the first time. She told me I was on the verge of a full-on breakdown and that I was severely depressed. I stopped working for a bit, I pulled recording sessions and stayed at home.’
Anne-Marie found her life finally changed for good when she visited a therapist, leading her to be inspired to write the book to help others.
She credits the therapy with saving her in many ways, adding: ‘I don’t know if I’d be here without it.’
BEAT
If you suspect you, a family member or friend has an eating disorder, contact Beat on 0808 801 0677 or at help@beateatingdisorders.org.uk, for information and advice on the best way to get appropriate treatment
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