Many celebrities have spoken openly about their experiences with eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder. Major stars like Taylor Swift, Angelina Jolie, Demi Lovato and Eminem have shared their personal struggles to raise awareness and help break the stigma around disordered eating.
Even though conversations around eating disorders have become more open in recent years, it’s still a serious issue affecting millions of people worldwide. In fact, an estimated 30 million Americans will struggle with an eating disorder during their lifetime. Below, we’ve rounded up celebrities who have opened up about their experiences, recovery journeys, and the challenges they’ve faced along the way.
1. Lindsay Lohan
Eating Disorder: Bulimia, anorexia
Lindsay Lohan is famous for her drug addiction, but few know that she struggled with bulimia and anorexia.
During her prime in the early noughties, she dropped weight drastically, making many heads turn with concern. The last straw was when her drug use and anorexia led to a kidney infection, and Lohan knew she had to make a change.
“I was sick. Everyone was scared. And I was scared too. I had people sit me down and say, ‘You’re going to die if you don’t take care of yourself’,” Lohan told Vanity Fair at the time. The actress now uses her voice to encourage change for others who also struggle with similar disorders.
2. Angelina Jolie
Eating Disorder: Anorexia
Angelina Jolie has struggled with eating for most of her life, and has been criticized for her appearance for even longer. Tabloids constantly surfaced discussing how she was so thin that her veins would bulge out, or how she looked as if she underwent surgery with her drastic weight loss.
Well, in September of 2021, the A-list actress admitted herself into a hospital in regards to her eating disorder. A source told National Enquirer that, “her nonexistent eating habits have been the elephant in the room for longer than anyone can remember.”
The star suffered from anorexia as a teenager and apparently even went to rehab due to “eating problems” triggered by anxiety just a few years ago.
3. Taylor Swift
Eating Disorder: Under-eating
Taylor Swift admitted her own eating struggles in her documentary, Miss Americana. The successful pop girlie explained that one of the biggest struggles she faced in the limelight was her appearance.
Swift mentioned how people constantly criticized her for being too big or too thin, and this would trigger her into an unhealthy cycle of no longer eating. Swift admitted that when she’d see “a picture of me where I feel like I looked like my tummy was too big, or… someone said that I looked pregnant … and that’ll just trigger me to just starve a little bit — just stop eating.”
Adding to the revelation, she said, “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 and not feel (enervated).”
4. Ed Sheeran
Eating Disorder: Bulimia, binge-eating
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Ed Sheeran opened up about his unhealthy relationship with food and struggles with body image. Upon entering the music scene, the singer revealed that he constantly compared himself to other male stars.
“I’m self-conscious anyway, but you get into an industry where you’re getting compared to every other pop star,” Sheeran said. “I was in the One Direction wave, and I’m like, ‘Well, why don’t I have a six pack?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, because you love kebabs and drink beer.’ Then you do songs with Justin Bieber and Shawn Mendes. All these people have fantastic figures. And I was always like, ‘Well, why am I so … fat?'”, he disclosed.
Comparing himself to Elton John who admittedly lived with bulimia, Ed continued, “So I found myself doing what Elton talks about in his book — gorging, and then it would come up again.”
Although Ed Sheeran admitted that he has “a real eating problem,” he now focuses on fitness. “I’m a real binge eater. I’m a binge-everything. But I’m now more of a binge exerciser…If you’re eating food that you really wanna eat, but then also exercising and looking the way that you kind of wanna look. I feel like that’s a good, good balance. So I eat, I love fast food. I love curry. I love drinking nice wine. I love all the things that would be bad for you if you didn’t exercise. But I feel like I’d go crazy if it was just no carbohydrates the whole time.”
5. Mary-Kate Olsen
Eating Disorder: Anorexia
After “looking different…with circles under her eyes” and refusing to eat, then 18-year-old Mary-Kate was admitted into a rehabilitation facility by her parents to seek treatment for her battle with anorexia. Things got so bad, that the family “hired someone to monitor her eating”.
But even before this moment, a rumor circulated that Mary-Kate and her twin sister had eating disorders. Oprah notoriously faced the rumor head on in an old interview, shockingly asking what size the girls were, to which they replied “petite.”
It was obviously an uncomfortable moment, but the girls are typically out of the limelight these days, giving us hope that they’re eating habits are regulated.
6. Lily Rose Depp
Eating Disorder: Anorexia
Daughter of Johnny Depp, Lily Rose experienced anxiety as a teen. Growing up, her parents did their best to protect her identity, but speculations began to rise when she looked “too skinny.”
Years later, the actress admitted to having anorexia and suffering an enormous battle with fighting the disease, “I have spent a lot of energy fighting the disease. I was much younger, when I faced with anorexia, it was very difficult to deal with it.”
She even discussed the most difficult elements of trying to find a normal life again, but went on to say, “I have battled an eating disorder for a long time, and am very proud of the results that I have achieved.”
7. Zayn Malik
Eating Disorder: Anorexia
Zayn Malik is among other celebs who have had serious eating habits. When he was in One Direction, he found himself struggling with healthy eating habits; especially during tours.
Malik wrote about those moments in the band, stating, “I’d just go for days – sometimes two or three days straight – without eating anything at all.” Apparently, the workload and pace of life of being in 1D badly affected his eating habits — “I think it was about control. I didn’t feel like I had control over anything else in my life, but food was something I could control, so I did…I had lost so much weight I had become ill.”
8. Amy Winehouse
Eating Disorder: Bulimia, anorexia
This singer has been in and out of headlines, going down in history as a legend for both her rhythmic music, but also her untimely death. Amy Winehouse died from an overdose in 2011, which is often speculated that her bulimia had a hand in the unfortunate death.
Amy’s life of depression led to unhealthy habits and vices, where she would binge-eat and force herself to vomit later. Colleagues even recounted that the singer would eat “a large meal, disappeared for 45 minutes, and returned with smeared makeup.”
Her bulimia led her to be incredibly skinny, and she ended up ingesting a large dosage of alcohol which was strongly not recommended for her size. Even her brother admitted that Amy’s bulimia played a large role in her death, “She would have died eventually, the way she was going, but what really killed her was the bulimia. Had she not have had an eating disorder, she would have been physically stronger.”
9. Demi Lovato
Eating Disorder: Bulimia
Demi Lovato has been open about their long-term struggle with disordered eating, first discussing it in their YouTube documentary Simply Complicated. They revealed that their battle with bulimia and purging began at just eight-years-old and was deeply tied to emotional stress and body image. “The less I have to think about food, the easier it is to go about having a normal life and I don’t want to let anybody down so when I do have moments when I slip up, I feel very ashamed…And when I feel lonely, my heart feels hungry and I end up bingeing.”
This year, they reflected on their recovery journey in an IG post for National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, writing: “it all started with taking tiny steps every day to heal my relationship with food, truly one plate at a time 🤍” and “i am a work in progress… but today, i am taking a moment to celebrate my journey and how far I’ve come 🤍.”
10. Hilary Duff
Eating Disorder: Anorexia
Hilary Duff has had more than enough battles with her image and eating disorders. When discussing with Health Magazine [via E Online], she opened up about how unhealthy her teenage years were.
At 17, she was a mere 98 pounds. Duff then went on to say how she regrets that part of her life, and admits to the eating disorder she struggled with. “I was totally obsessed with everything I put in my mouth. I was way too skinny, not cute. And my body wasn’t that healthy —my hands would cramp up a lot because I wasn’t getting the nutrition I needed.”
Then after having her son, tabloids criticized her for her body. But having done this rodeo before, she decided to take those criticisms like a grain of salt when her daughter was born. Now on a healthier diet, Hilary says that she’s happier than ever.
11. Lucy Hale
Eating Disorder: Anorexia, bulimia
The Pretty Little Liars actress wanted to fit into the Hollywood lifestyle so bad, that body issues and an eating disorder got the best of her. In order to fit the role of the loved actress Hale wanted to be, she would go out drinking and stop eating for days.
Her battle with anorexia even began before starring in the popular TV series. On The Demi Lovato Show, Hale admitted that she dealt with anorexia and “exercise bulimia” — “I would just work out for hours. It wasn’t really about how I physically looked, it was because I had moved across the country. I just felt so completely out of control. The easiest thing you can control is the food that goes into your mouth or how much you work out,” she explained.
Now, Lucy Hale states that, “I knew I had a problem…It was a gradual process but I changed myself.” Although she confessed to still having “bad days”, Hale being her genuine healthy self is all any of us could ask for!
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12. Elton John
Eating Disorder: Bulimia
Elton John had a continuous up and down battle with addiction, which went hand in hand with his eating disorder. His bulimia became a power struggle for who was really steering his ship, and he states that he “lost complete touch with” himself.
After struggling with bulimia nervosa for 16 years before finally seeking treatment in 1990, John confessed, “It was all through being paranoid about my weight but not able to stop eating. So in the end I’d gorge, then make myself sick. For breakfast I’d have a fry-up, followed by 20 pots of cockles and then a tub of ice cream, so I’d throw it all up. I never stood still. I was always rushing, always thinking about the next thing. If I was eating a curry, I couldn’t wait to throw it up so that I could have the next one.”
But since then, the best-selling male artist has made an incredible recovery. In 2020, he had a grand celebration — Elton John style — for his 30 years of sobriety.
13. Halsey
Eating Disorder: Unspecified
Halsey, has been extremely open and informative about the struggles she’s faced, including her battle with bipolar and her eating disorder.
This celebrity has struggled with eating for quite some time, and in December of 2020, she gained some heat for posting a shirtless mirror selfie looking very thin. Stating that it was her “lowest point” of her eating disorder, Halsey quickly took the photo down, as some viewed it as a romanticizing perspective of eating disorders.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Halsey confessed that the disorder has never gone away, but she knows how to tackle it, “It’s still happening in my body. I just know when to get in front of it.”
14. Billie Eilish
Eating Disorder: Body dysmorphia disorder
Billie Eilish struggled with an eating disorder in her early teens, to the extent of taking diet pills. She told Vanity Fair, “I was in the midst of my horrible body relationship…I wasn’t really eating. I was, like, starving myself,” she continued. “I remember taking a pill that told me that it would make me lose weight and it only made me pee the bed — when I was 12.”
Eilish’s relationship with eating was horribly toxic, leading her to find a vice in self-harm, “I think that the people around me were more worried about it than I was, because the reason I used to cut myself was because of my body.”
The singer discussed her past choices in clothing, stating that “I only started wearing baggy clothes because of my body.” The battle still continues for Billie, but her relationship with her self-image has only been getting better.
15. Sam Smith
Eating Disorder: Body dysmorphia disorder
Sam Smith has struggled with their appearance for most of their life, dubbing it “body trauma.”
Discussing their body dysmorphia on social media, Smith said that they would starve themselves in preparations for photoshoots, “In the past if I have ever done a photo shoot with so much as a t-shirt on, I have starved myself for weeks in advance and then picked and prodded at every picture and then normally taken the picture down.”
But now, they happily in their own skin — “I decided to fight the f**k back. Reclaim my body and stop trying to change this chest and these hips and these curves that my mum and dad made and love so unconditionally.” The song, Dancing with a Stranger, touches upon how they are reclaiming their new identity out of an eating disorder.
16. Jade Thirwall
Eating Disorder: Anorexia
This Little Mix-turned solo superstar has also struggled with an eating disorder. As a teen, Jade Thirwall had an intense battle with anorexia that dawned on her mental health as it often would. “I obviously became very small… I used to wear a lot of baggy clothes to hide that,” she said in a BBC Sound’s Life Hacks podcast.
Thirwall’s struggle with anorexia became a power-play on herself, and made her feel like she was in control of an element in her life. After confiding with someone about her anorexia, Jade went to hospital and a few weeks later, auditioned for The X Factor.
Since reaching out, Thirwall has been on a great track of recovery and admits, “I don’t think I would ever do that to myself again.”
17. Camila Mendes
Eating Disorder: Bulimia, dieting
Camila Mendes got real with her eating disorder back in 2019. Before entering the film industry, she was blissfully unaware that she actually had an issue — and didn’t know that her eating disorder was common.
The actress who suffered from bulimia believed that dieting was just an essential part of living a healthy lifestyle, but was unaware that she wasn’t actually dieting, but starving herself. “I used to think [dieting] was a nice, healthy way to live. It took a lot… to get rid of that fear of carbs…”
Discussing her anxiety when entering the film industry, Camila told Shape, “I started working in this industry with fittings all the time and watching myself on camera… If I ate a sweet, I would be like, ‘Oh my God, I’m not going to eat for five hours now.'”
The actress has since banished dieting from her life, claiming, “My passion for education, cinema, music, etc. — all the interests that used to occupy my mind — had been eaten away by my desire to be thin, and it made me miserable,” she wrote on Instagram. “I’m done believing in the idea that there’s a thinner, happier version of me on the other side of all the tireless effort.”
18. Aaron Carter
Eating Disorder: Hiatal hernia
Aaron Carter was often ridiculed for his appearance before his untimely death. Most mean comments were centered around his weight and how he “couldn’t keep any weight on.”
After being targeted for some time, Carter chose to speak up through a series of tweets, revealing that he suffered from a hiatal hernia, which suppressed his appetite and created copious amounts of stress. His diagnosis of his hernia was made when he was 19, causing a life-long issue for the singer.
“By the way y’all wanna know why I’m so skinny? It’s because @ 19 i was diagnosed with a hiatal hernia, I didn’t choose that,” Aaron tweeted. “Be kind to me…It’s a terrible stress condition that affects me having an appetite and I’m sorry this is the way I am,” he continued. “Basically I have an eating disorder.”
19. Kesha
Eating Disorder: Bulimia
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Kesha discussed her own struggles with food during her peak era in the 2010s.
Eager to have a ‘punk’ persona that drinks and has fun, Kesha soon realized that this wasn’t the healthiest choice, eventually finding herself in rehab for an eating disorder led by drugs and booze. “I really just thought I wasn’t supposed to eat food. And then if I ever did, I felt very ashamed, and I would make myself throw up because I’d think, ‘Oh, my God, I can’t believe I actually did that horrible thing…”
“I was slowly, slowly starving myself,” she recalled. “The worse I got and the sicker I got, the better a lot of people around me were saying that I looked…”
Now, Kesha speaks openly about these struggles and how she decided to finally reach for help. “I just had all this mounting anxiety. And then finally I was like, ‘F**k. This. S**t. F**k this s**t. I’m hungry!’ I remember just shaking because I was so fed up, so anxious, and I was just mad that I had let myself get to that point.”
20. Megan Fox
Eating Disorder: Anorexia
Even confident celebs like Megan Fox secretly suffer from eating disorders and mental illness.
“I went through some trauma in childhood and I developed a pretty severe eating disorder and manic depression, which runs in my family, so there was definitely some wrestling with chemical imbalance going on,” the star told CR Parade. She even told Allure (via US Weekly) in 2010 that she would “starve to death before I’ll cook for myself. I think I could survive a week without eating.”
Also revealing that she has “body dysmorphia” and “a lot of deep insecurities,” Fox admittedly still struggles with these battles. She has also admitted to getting plastic surgery, but has now found herself in a happier place, stating, “I’ve been in this moment that has been very proactive and rewarding both emotionally and spiritually. I’m really happy with this moment”.
21. Lorde
Eating Disorder: Restrictive eating
Lorde has also spoken candidly about her struggles with an eating disorder during the creation and promotion of her Solar Power era. In a 2025 Rolling Stone interview, she revealed that she began restricting food and became obsessed with her appearance. “I didn’t eat because I wanted my tummy to be small in the dress,” she said, adding that she would feel “so hungry and so weak” while still pushing through public appearances. She also admitted to experiencing intense body image distress, describing how she would look at photos of herself and feel “deep loathing” toward her body.
Reflecting on her recovery, Lorde said she eventually realized she had been “at war with my body,” and that letting go of control over food helped her reconnect with creativity and feel more like herself again.
22. Lady Gaga
Eating Disorder: Bulimia
Lady Gaga first spoke up about her struggle with an eating disorder in 2013.
When she was just 15, the popstar was diagnosed with bulimia and anorexia. Gaga revealed how she wanted to be “a skinny little ballerina”, but was never able, as she said she tended to bulk up.
The American Horror Story actress has since conquered these issues, and taken on a healthier diet with foods that balance her — “I don’t have an eating disorder anymore, I am better with food,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. In 2013, she launched the “Body Revolution” campaign, which encouraged fans to share photos of themselves and embrace their flaws. Gaga also runs the Born This Way Foundation, which helps fans dealing with body image and bullying.
23. Jessica Alba
Eating Disorder: Anorexia
Yet another celeb that has struggled with eating habits is Jessica Alba. During her early acting days, the actress told The Hollywood Reporter that she felt guilty over her appearance, and felt even worse for having men lust after her — “I was meant to feel ashamed if I tempted men. Then I stopped eating a lot when I became an actress. I made myself look more like a boy so I wouldn’t get as much attention.”
Her family had even encouraged her to hide her body in looser clothing and avoid wearing jeans in an attempt to appear less curvy. Though after the birth of her daughter, Alba says she feels more comfortable in her skin — “And that was the dopest sh*t I’d ever done [giving birth], so I was like ‘Yes.’ So then I came into my body as a woman finally”.
24. Alanis Morissette
Eating Disorder: Bulimia, binge-eating, anorexia
Staying sober was not an easy task for this iconic star. Alanis Morissette detailed her battle to recover from eating disorders in an interview with Women’s Health. She explained how she succumbed to drugs, which led to other unhealthy habits including “bingeing and purging, starving, overeating”.
This up and down cycle was a vicious continuation of her drug habits, and once going sober, she didn’t know how to cope – “The big question for me around eating-disorder recovery is, ‘What is sobriety with food?’ We know with alcohol, you just don’t drink it and don’t go to a bar. With heroin, you just don’t go near it. Whereas with food, you have to eat, so how can one go from, in my case, bingeing and purging, starving, overeating, the scale going up and down — how can I go from that to a ‘sober’ approach?”
But once the veil was lifted on these habits, Morissette took on healthier choices. She now finds a balance in what she eats, and how much – “I’ve noticed when I get the high-nutrient greens, I sleep better. There’s less moodiness. Food is entirely medicine to me. That doesn’t mean I’m just eating seeds and raspberries, although that’s fun, too, but it’s an integrative approach.”
25. Kelly Clarkson
Eating Disorder: Bulimia
This Stronger singer has come far since winning American Idol in 2002 – a time in her career where she was incredibly slim, but seemed to be larger than life. However, that was not the case. Kelly Clarkson was severely depressed and struggling with body image during this time.
After revealing that she had bulimic experiences in high school, Kelly later confessed that her low self-esteem continued as she rose to fame – “It was a very dark time for me…I like wrecked my knees and my feet because all I would do is put in headphones and run. I was at the gym all the time…When I was really skinny, I wanted to kill myself. I was miserable, like inside and out, for four years of my life. But no one cared, because aesthetically you make sense.”
Clarkson soon had a change of heart, accepting a healthy lifestyle, and realized that it was her talent, not her body that mattered – “If I’m skinny one day or bigger one day, that ain’t gonna change how I sound,” she said in an interview with Redbook. “I still sound pretty dang good. And my talent is why I’m here.”
26. Eminem
Eating Disorder: Compulsive eating
Very few people are aware of Eminem’s hidden insecurities and battle with an eating disorder. After completing rehab for an addiction with pills, the artist took on healthier habits like running while at the gym.
This sounded ‘healthy’ on paper, until the rapper allowed running to become his new addiction. Discussing his destructive relationship with exercise, he told Men’s Journal that he soon became obsessed with losing weight, and would have the goal of losing 2,000 calories a day in one gym session. These unhealthy habits dropped him to 149 pounds – “I started getting OCD about the calories…I ran to the point where I started to get injured.”
After a critical injury on his hip flexors from running too much, Eminem thankfully dropped the intensity down to a healthy fitness level.
If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, remember that you are not alone and help is just around the corner. For help, reach out to National Eating Disorders Association, or National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
This list was originally published in January 2022 and was last reviewed and refreshed in 2026 for accuracy and additional content.
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