it's always fun to watch these award
shows but do you ever wonder how much
pressure it is to look good on the red
carpet and these days looking good often
means being thin you may not be walking
the red carpet you could be walking to
school walking into the office or
walking into a store and you've probably
felt that pressure too I know I have I
battled an eating disorder all through
college until I was in my mid-20s and I
guess it's not surprising that the
average age for the onset of an eating
disorder is between 18 and 21 but did
you know that girls as young as five now
start to worry about their weight as a
result of my personal experience I've
always been interested in how we beat
ourselves up about our bodies and I was
so impressed at how a 20-year-old star
like Demi levado has dealt with her
struggles so openly and honestly I'm
going to head into the studio to talk
with Demi about that but first here's a
look at her
[Applause]
story
just 20 years old exactor judge Demi
levado is truly a comeback kid with her
Hit album and her new gig I'm going to
say
yes we love
you but getting here wasn't easy Demi's
career started when she was just seven
as a pal of a purple dinosaur named
Barney she went on to become a Disney
Teen Queen in the movie Camp Rock and in
her own Disney series Sunny with a
chance but beneath the squeaky clean
image she was imploding battling
anorexia bulimia and
self-mutilation at 18 the pressure was
clearly taking a
toll I was performing concerts on an
empty stomach I was losing my voice from
purging she's now become a voice for a
generation of girls struggling with
eating disorders and Body Image nice to
meet teaching her fans to embrace and
celebrate who they
are just as Demi levado is learning to
[Music]
do please welcome Demi
[Applause]
levado to see you you're welcome
here great to see you
to see you too I love the teal tips oh
thank you that looks so pretty so um
first of all how are you I'm really good
I'm awesome and thank you so much for
having me well I'm thrilled that you're
here and you know I've admired so much
Demi the fact that you've been so open
and honest with your fans and I think
you've given them a lot of uh leadership
and understanding of some of the issues
that they're privately struggling with
and don't want to talk about thank you
when did you start to feel uncomfortable
with your body and start to have body
image issues when I started to have body
image issues I remember being 3 years
old in a diaper and rubbing my hand over
my stomach and just feeling like I
remember thinking in my head I wonder if
one day this will ever be flat and three
years old at three and it just continued
I always had selfconfidence issues in my
body body and self-image Pro um problems
and I mean it also didn't help that I
had kids at school at such a young age
that were really really naturally thin
so I always felt like I was the bigger
one of the group and you I know
initially started dealing with this by
ere eating I read that you would eat you
know make a pan of cookies and eat the
entire tray yeah and and then you
started uh doing more you started
starving yourself and binging and
purging so anorexia and bulimia
did did something specifically trigger
those more serious behaviors in you or
when did that start you know it started
when I was around eight years old that I
really started um what we call it is
binging uh binge eating I I think that
any eating disorder some people I
believe people have their different
opinions on it but I believe that I was
born with it and that it was just gonna
be there you know it runs in my
um my family and it just is it's just
there and I think that when you go
through things that are traumatic that
happen to you when you're little or at
any time in your life it can bring out
the nasty behaviors that um rise to the
surface when you don't know how to stay
in control or feel your emotions so
certain things trigger it or set it off
even though you might to kind of have it
internally anyway in your view yes I
believe so I feel like a especially um
certain events in your life or even just
the way that uh your family Dynamic is
it can definitely trigger uh your
behaviors in your patterns I know that
girls uh would call you fat when you
were just 12 years old which was very
hard here you were this very successful
young actress and you were being kind of
teased and and bered at school which was
difficult for you I know and quite
traumatic yes I also like to raise the
awareness about bullying because people
I think don't realize how badly that
verbal harassment and cyber bullying
affects you um it played more of a toll
on me than if I was physically abused in
school I kind of always said I wish that
they had just hit me in the face and
gotten it over with um because what they
said to me is sticks to me to this day
it affected me into the person that I am
today uh I was bullied and they called
me fat and you know they called me
horrible things and um the only way to
get through it all was I left school and
I started homeschooling and I called my
mom in a bathroom like crying and was
like you have to pick me up like I have
to get out of here I can't take it
anymore what was it like for you to to
not eat or to overeat and and Purge how
did it make you feel was this a control
thing I yes I think that it was
definitely a control thing and some
people just don't want to feel the the
emotions that they have I think a lot of
it is like me just numbing myself out so
I didn't have to deal with certain
problems or trauma or anything you know
I think that I just didn't want to feel
and um and that's pretty much what it
was for me I think also too is it's you
get a physical High your body actually
releases endorphins when you purge so
some people get addicted to the physical
feeling of it and you were doing it as
many as six times a day at one point yes
I would throw up because I thought one
glass of juice was gonna make me gain
five
pounds so you had become very very
obsessive then other days you just
wouldn't eat at all yes there was a week
too where I think I ate two meals in one
week how much did being in the
entertainment business play a role in
the pressure you felt to look a certain
way you know obviously I felt like I had
these issues way before I became in the
spotlight but I think that it definitely
Amplified things because your life is
under a microscope I was listening to
commenters on blog sites that were
saying oh she looks fat in this outfit
or whatever and uh and I put that
pressure on myself I can't imagine what
that's like being criticized all the
time for everything oh I actually I do
but but but you know so much so
especially at such a young age before
you even have an understanding of your
selfworth and that it's a lot more than
just your external packaging right or
even your body I mean I was going
through puberty my body was changing and
I didn't like the fact that I was
gaining weight and what are curves I
don't understand you know it's difficult
for young girls with eating disorders
around that time because their body's
changing into a woman basically yeah
when we come back we're going to talk
about what Demi went through in
treatment and later what triggers an
eating disorder we're going to take a
look at the science behind this
disease
[Applause]
and we're back with Demi levado of
course realizing you need help is the
first step to getting treatment yes I
know that there was an incident that
made everyone around you say enough is
enough I mean you were kind of spiraling
out of control weren't you absolutely
tell me what happened uh what happened
was you know I made a huge mistake and I
ended up hitting one of my friends um
who was a backup dancer who was a backup
dancer yeah and I felt horrible um I
wasn't really in control of my emotions
at the time I was like I was just out of
control and there's no excuse for it uh
but you know it definitely showed
everyone that I needed to get help and I
think 2 days later I was checking into
rehab you went to an patient facility in
Illinois and it was very strict I know
that you weren't allowed to go to the
bathroom by yourself you couldn't have
razors there at all I me it was very
very pretty fuzzy legs walking around
there but but what kind of tell me about
what that treatment was like and what it
did for you treatment was so difficult
at first I remember walking around
saying I'm in prison and it really they
needed to have those strict rules in
order for me to understand how sick I
was I wasn't allowed to use the bathroom
by myself um I wasn't we had specific
phone times there are tons of things you
know you're not allowed to have certain
hair products or whatever that you could
injure yourself with or possibly drink
and uh you were just were stripped of a
lot of things um I also had somebody
watching over me every single time I ate
and if I didn't finish what was on my
plate and often times I would cry
because I could physically couldn't
stomach it and if that happened I would
have to you know have little
consequences nothing horrible just like
not being able to go to the cafeteria to
eat but what did you learn about
yourself Demi that pulled yourself
pulled you out of this terrible
situation this self-loathing this
punishing of your body that you had been
a part of for so many years I mean
something must have clicked what I think
clicked is it didn't even happen
necessarily when I went to treatment I
still dealt with severe body image
issues throughout I mean I guess
throughout the past two years and I
think it recently clicked um I've been
getting used to the changes in my body
when I got out of treatment I gained
about like 30 lbs and my weight just
fluctuated a lot I was trying to find
out what its natural weight was um and I
had a really hard time dealing with it
uh but you know I think that I've gotten
to a comfortable place now obviously I'm
still going to deal with it for the rest
of my life but I'm at a good place right
now I like that you say you're a curvy
girl and and you you really have
embraced that and kind of become
comfortable with your body type which
isn't you know tall and live you know
and and you're fine with it absolutely
you're a beautiful young woman thank you
really thank
you I think the only way to really
accept yourself is to say you know what
God I'm giving it to you or you know
whatever you feel like um gives you that
power but uh it's just surrendering and
saying I can't do this to my body
anymore I'm going to let my body be what
it is naturally supposed to be and to
focus on health instead of thinness
right yeah definitely I know Mike Bear
is an internationally known crisis and
Recovery advisor he's also uh Demi's
recovery manager Mike how difficult is
it to get over an eating disorder like
this I think it's very challenging
unless the whole family is really
willing to participate in their daughter
or their son's eating disorder so I
think that I've I've worked with a lot
of women who have gotten over it it's a
very tough thing but if they get the
right help they can have a better life
and and not live in the obsession of you
know self-hatred or self harm or
whatever those are as you see with Demi
did your family get involved your mom
was she supportive the people around you
supportive as well absolutely you know
it's I was saying earlier it's not just
a disease that one person of your family
member suffers with it affects your
whole family so really it's a family
disease and it has to be fixed with
therapy sessions and so so they know how
to handle it and what to say and what
not to say and just be there for me Mike
you know for parents out there they may
Wonder well how can we create an
environment where
we we can develop a healthy relationship
with food not only for ourselves but for
our kids right what would you recommend
families do I think it's important for
families to get together as a family and
treat everyone with respect have healthy
food in the house everyone G together
and having open dialogue I think it's
important that parents don't criticize
their daughters about what they eat or
what they don't eat and you know that's
one thing in a household that may be
really controlling or out of control is
they don't have the choice of even what
they get to to eat and I think as you
know being in the media and coming back
to your home environment you want to
come into an environment that's really
healthy and happy and everyone's
welcoming and the last thing you want is
for someone to say Katie why are you
eating the spaghetti you know that's
just doesn't feel good I mean that's not
enjoyable that's I usually say to
myself but that's a whole another show
anyway all right Mike thank you later on
we're going to talk about how a mother's
unhealthy relationship with food can
have a negative effect on her daughter's
body image but coming up next women in
their 40s 50s and 60s developing Eating
Disorders why this dangerous Trend we'll
tell you when we come
[Music]
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