Eating disorders affect a significant proportion of teenagers especially females. But it can be managed effectively. There are many celebrities from the entertainment industry who have suffered from it but have emerged successful out of it. Camila Mendes of Riverdale fame recently opened up about her eating disorder and how she managed to come out of it.
Camila Mendes and her past eating disorder
TV actress, Camila Mendes is a well-known face in the entertainment industry. She had starred in the TV series Riverdale. She is 28 now but while she was doing the show, her age was 22.
Camila Mendes has history of eating disorder (Source: MTV)Camila Mendes has been candid about her past eating disorder. This was present when she was shooting for the show Riverdale. Camila revealed that she was excessively conscious about her body and appearance during the shooting. She had poor self-image of her body and was very sensitive to any comment on it.
Camila was particularly worried when she used to re-watch her performance of the first season in 2017. She was on the podcast Going Mental with host Eileen Kelly. Camila said:
“I would watch every episode and be like, ‘Oh my god, my stomach there…’ I was so insecure and it really fuelled my eating disorder.”
“When you’re in your early twenties, your body is fluctuating… my body hadn’t settled into itself yet. I was looking at myself, taking myself apart. My stomach, you know, my arms, my chin, anything – I would obsess over.”
Did this disorder affect her performance?
Camila told the host on the podcast that she was so conscious that it came in the way of her acting. She was extremely afraid to eat certain food stuffs such as those containing more carbs. She was forced to consult a nutritionist in order to allay those unwarranted fears. She explained:
“What would happen is I would avoid [carbs] for a long period of time and then I would binge and eat a bunch and then purge,”
Camila Mendes (Source: IMDb)Further, she added:
“So it was this terrible cycle. [My nutritionist] helped me overcome that by reintroducing bread into my life to be like, ‘See, it’s not going to kill you’.”
Moreover, certain positive comments about her looks helped her to come out of this disorder. After she lost some weight, some people told her:
“You look so good”
That boosted her morale. She said:
“When I don’t hear that, I think I look terrible,”
“When no one’s commenting on how thin I look.”
Camila’s first disclosure about her bulimia
It was in 2019 that Camila began to open up about her eating problem. She disclosed that she suffered from bulimia and that with the guidance of a nutritionist and support from friends and family, she was on the road to recovery.
At that time, she gave an interview to Women’s health magazine and in it she said:
“I’ve only recently kind of gotten better. It’s something that’s still a curse to me. It’s not like that ever goes away.”
“I couldn’t have done that alone. I needed professionals who I trusted to tell me things that I didn’t know before.”
Also, read List of 6 disordered eating behaviors!
Eating disorders (Source: Mind help)If you are in the UK and suffering from bulimia, reach out to Beat’s helpline number 0808 801 0677.