Trigger warning: this article discusses eating disorders. Tallulah Willis has spoken out about the realities of her recovery from disordered eating in an Instagram post and personal essay, with her experiences and authenticity resonating with many.
As the daughter of actors Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, Tallulah is no stranger to the spotlight and the pressures of fame, but has decided to use her voice and following to document her journey.
Her latest post included a pre-recovery picture and the caption ‘I love her. And I love her, and I see how courageous she’s been. steady on the course my bbs’. It has received over 12,000 likes and hundreds of supportive comments.
Many have reached out to Tallulah and thanked her for her honesty and for opening up about her eating disorder journey and recovery.
One posted: ‘Authenticity is beautiful, thanks for sharing’, while another wrote: ‘I know it’s hard but stay the course’.
In a personal essay for Vogue, she also described how her eating disorder came to be, having suffered from anorexia nervosa for the last four years. She admits that getting sober at 20 meant that ‘restricting food has felt like the last vice that I got to hold on to.’
Tallulah also describes her relationship with appetite-suppressant ADHD medication, which she viewed as ‘a way to banish the awkward adolescent in favour of a flighty little pixie’.
She tells of how this made her ‘sense of self go haywire’, as well as the low weight she reached and the physical impact. ‘By the spring of 2022, I weighed about 84 pounds. I was always freezing,’ Tallulah wrote. ‘I was calling mobile IV teams to come to my house, and I couldn’t walk in my Los Angeles neighbourhood because I was afraid of not having a place to sit down and catch my breath.’
Her honesty about her experiences of recovery has been impactful. Tallulah describes the realisation she came to during rehab that centred around her relationships with her family.
'I realised that what I wanted more than harmony with my body was harmony with my family – to no longer worry them, to bring a levity to my sisters and my parents,’ she wrote. ‘An emaciated body wouldn't do that.
‘I had felt the weight of people worrying about me for years, and that put me on my knees.’
She’s also open about her battles with the echoes of her eating disorder in her daily life: 'Most of my clothes are too small now, and in the morning, as I go through my closet, I have to resist the temptation to linger on that and urge myself to move on.’
Fans and supporters have highlighted how important Tallulah’s frankness has been for the eating disorder support network. One commented: ‘This is so important. Thank you for being honest and real with this topic. Means a lot for the ED support network to know there is help. Our loved ones can truly have a full life in recovery’.
‘Your vogue article changed my life,’ another supporter wrote. ‘You look so healthy and beautiful’.
Others talked about how they can relate to Tallulah’s journey, with one commenting: ‘I love this!! I’ve had my own struggles here so I know the difficulty. Keep it up!’
Another wrote: ‘Your story is important. Thank you for sharing it’.
Bruce Willis was diagnosed with aphasia, a language disorder caused by damage in the brain, in 2022, followed by a dementia diagnosis earlier this year.
In her essay, Tallulah also reflects on the fact that her dad’s own health was declining at the same time that she was dealing with her body dysmorphia. She movingly describes her realisation during a father-of-the-bride’s speech at a wedding that her own father wouldn’t be able to do the same.
‘What if my dad had been his full self and saw me at that size? What would he have done? I’d like to think that he wouldn’t have let it happen.’
Above all, along with her Instagram supporters, we applaud Tallulah’s candour when it comes to eating disorder recovery and grief, as well as her choice to use it to inspire and comfort others.