Fearne Cotton Has Spoken About Having Bulimia In Her Twenties

Fearne Cotton has opened up about her 10-year struggle withbulimia f{ =nofollow}or the first time. The TV and radio presenter spoke candidly on the How To Fail With Elizabeth Day podcast, saying that the condition was caused by imposter syndrome when she was progressing with her TV and radio career in her twenties.

'It’s been this weird secret I’ve felt a little bit embarrassed of, a little bit ashamed of, a little bit worried about,' she told Day. 'I’m still worried now about what people are going to think when I share this side of myself. I had this new release I invented for myself – to have bulimia. I had that on/off for a good decade of my life.'

Cotton{ =nofollow}says only her mother knew about the condition, and further explained how the eating disorder changed throughout her twenties. 'In the beginning of my twenties it was quite intense and sort of ruled everything,’ she said. 'In my later twenties it was more like a bad habit I’d kick into if something emotional was happening or if I felt out of control. It was my go-to thing but wasn’t as regular.'

She added that she never vomited while having bulimia, saying: ‘I had this first chunk of my life doing normal family things and the next chunk switched up and it was bonkers at times so it was a way of feeling I was calling the shots. I am sad to look back and see it was so out of control. I never binged and puked up. I ate regular meals but then got rid of it all and it felt like a release.'

Fearne, who is married to musician Jesse Wood, says she started to recover from the condition when she became pregnant with her first child Rex. ‘I’d met Jesse and wasn’t regularly purging but it would still be a fallback if things felt stressful,’ she said. ‘At this point I desperately wanted to have a baby. Getting pregnant, I let go of all of it. I ate everything in sight. It just went overnight.It came back, the feelings of loathing about my body after the birth, but I didn’t go back to the illness.'

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