There are some significant advantages to being a celebrity, but they do seem to be popular targets of eating disorders. It's hard to say whether celebrities have eating disorders more often than the rest of us. What we do know is that they're a lot more visible in Hollywood and elsewhere, and we can gain helpful knowledge about disordered eating as a result.
1. Paula Abdul
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Paula Abdul has seen success in several different careers. She's also had success fighting off bulimia nervosa, and her story is an example of how life can continue despite the lingering thoughts that accompany eating disorder recovery.
2. Fiona Apple
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Apple's eating followed compulsive patterns in the past, even as she became a successful recording artist. The identity of her eating disorder remains a bit of a mystery.
3. Maureen McCormick
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Bulimia was just a small part of the chaos that dominated the life of "Marcia Brady" in her teens and twenties. It's not true for everyone with an eating disorder, but in my experience, those with bulimia tend to have more ups and downs in their lives than those with anorexia.
4. Katharine McPhee
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Eating disorders can threaten relationships, health, and careers as well. Bulimia assaulted Katharine McPhee's vocal cords and endangered her primary talent. We know that the threat of harm to important things in life is rarely a deterrent to those who have eating disorders.
5. Alanis Morissette
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There are lots of paths to disordered eating. When people who can affect your future tell you that you need to lose weight to succeed, the possibility of triggering an eating disorder rises a great deal. Alanis Morissette's story is a case in point.
6. Christina Ricci
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One can argue that eating disorders are examples of self-harm, but some -- like Christina Ricci -- make self-harm more explicit. Ricci has played a number of characters who deal with significant emotional pain, and if her own life is any indication, she may play the roles with the wisdom of experience.
