With all her idiosyncratic behaviors and audacious fashion choices, Lady Gaga exudes brassy confidence both onstage and off. It was at a surprise visit to an LA school this week that the pop star revealed that she had suffered from self-esteem issues and bulimia during high school.
“I used to throw up all the time in high school. So I’m not that confident,” she told Maria Shriver. “I wanted to be a skinny little ballerina but I was a voluptuous little Italian girl whose dad had meatballs on the table every night. I used to come home and say, 'Dad, why do you always give us this food? I need to be thin.' And he'd say, 'Eat your spaghetti'.”
The detrimental effects bulimia had on her vocal cords coaxed Lady Gaga to stop purging, though she still admits to having body issues. She implored the packed auditorium to stop fixating on weight and dieting.
"Every video I'm in, every magazine cover, they stretch you; they make you perfect. It's not real life. I'm gonna say this about girls: The dieting wars have got to stop…Because at the end of the day, it's affecting kids your age. And it’s making girls sick.”
Downtown Baltimore Eating Disorder Examiner applauds Lady Gaga for her disclosure on such a serious issue. We would also like to remind readers, however, that those suffering from an eating disorder or those that know someone suffering from an eating disorder should seek help immediatly. Call the National Eating Disorder Association's (NEDA) information and referral helpline at 1-800-931-2237 or click here.
Furthermore, we would like to note that eating disorders do not discriminate. Although Gaga mentioned she purged out of a desire to be a "skinny little ballerina", indiviudals of all sizes can be affected by an eating disorder. Although females are heralded in the media as being the only to suffer eating disorders, many males face the same struggles. Read an interview with I Chose to Live founder Patrick Bergstrom to learn more.
Eating Disorder Resources in Maryland
The Eating Disorder Network of Maryland offers a variety of resources for professionals and sufferers, and other areas of Maryland also house programs and networks to help. Pershing Turner Centers (with a location in Annapolis, Maryland) offers a full menu of resources and programs for all types of eating disorders. Notably, Pershing Turners Center has recently hired inspirational activist and psychotherapist Rachael Stern. In Baltimore, both the Johns Hopkins Eating Disorders Program and the Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt are reputable in their treatment of eating disorders.
Comments